Enevo touts its waste collection efficiency in Rotterdam

The municipality of Rotterdam in the Netherlands is now introducing the second phase of a “paper and cardboard waste fractions project” it is undertaking along with Finland-based Enevo and Netherlands-based Total Waste Systems (TWS).

The second phase will double the number of monitored waste containers being managed and “increase the use of Enevo Smart Plan software for optimized collection route planning to 40 percent of the underground paper and cardboard containers in the city,” according to Enevo.

Initially deployed as a proof of concept to demonstrate the effectiveness of Enevo technology, the municipality of Rotterdam set a target for Enevo to increase the efficiency of collections by 20 percent, “a goal that was in fact easily surpassed,” says the company.

“We are delighted to be increasing the use of this system,” says Joost van Maaren, head of collection and reuse of waste for the municipality of Rotterdam. “The technology to monitor fill levels in waste containers is well understood. However, key to our requirements was a dynamic route planning system. Enevo offers one of the only systems that reliably offers both capabilities. This essential development is helping us to eliminate static collection routes and bring a focus on only emptying containers that need servicing. During the pilot our working group, together with Enevo and TWS, have developed a system that meets Rotterdam’s requirements to achieve a highly effective and efficient waste collection system.”

Enevo Chief of Sales and Strategy Charbel Aoun comments, “The results of the pilot in Rotterdam show conclusively that Enevo’s IoT (Internet of things) technology and analytics can help uncover new levels of efficiency in the hands of a committed and expert team. Just as 60 other global cities have already found working in partnership with Enevo, Rotterdam has been able to do more with less.”

Adds Aoun, “Not only is a predictive waste management system an effective way to reduce the cost of waste handling, it can also help to incentivize reuse and recycling, and build the circular economy. We are very pleased to be on that journey with the municipality of Rotterdam.”

The Enevo waste management system has been designed to bring together waste container monitoring, data analytics and fill-level forecasting, dynamic route planning and driver route guidance via in-cab tablet computers, says the company. Enevo wireless sensors monitor the fill level of the waste containers, transmitting the information to the company’s cloud servers.

This data is combined with historical project information to generate trends the system analyzes to determine the most efficient collection routes, based on fill level criteria, on a daily basis. These routes are directly communicated via the Enevo cloud service to provide that day’s collection route.

Phase two of the paper and cardboard collection and recycling project was implemented during April 2016 and is being forecast by Enevo to provide increased levels of data and on-route understanding for analysis.