City of Spokane selects Rubicon Global for waste tracking initiative

Rubicon Global, an Atlanta-based provider of waste, recycling and smart city solutions to businesses and governments, has announced that the city of Spokane, Washington, has selected the company in a competitive bid process for a new three-year contract to provide smart city solutions to help benefit its citizens and businesses in 189,000 service locations across the city. 

Starting in December, the city of Spokane will begin using the RUBICONSmartCity platform, which includes a tablet-based mobile app, a plug-in device and a web-based portal. The technology will allow the city’s Solid Waste Collection utility to track key metrics, including service confirmations, missed pickups, landfill diversion and recycling rates, leading to more efficient operations and, ultimately, improved service for its customers and citizens. Rubicon’s fleet management technology will be installed in the city’s approximately 100 solid waste vehicles, and a vehicle telematics system also is available for the city’s expanded fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles.  

“The RUBICONSmartCity platform helps cities of all sizes leverage data to make smarter decisions about waste, recycling and city operations, leading to improvements in sustainability and quality of life that map to an overall mission to end waste,” Michael Allegretti, chief public strategy officer at Rubicon Global, says. “Using RUBICONSmartCity, the city of Spokane will be able to take the data that is pulled from the waste vehicles and determine the best routes for waste and recycling collections, improve response times and manage pickup services—all designed to deliver an overall improvement in waste and recycling solutions for its residents.” 

Rubicon was awarded the three-year contract with the city of Spokane in September, and the city has an option for two, one-year contract renewals.

“The city of Spokane is committed to delivering excellent solid waste collection and disposal services for our citizens at an affordable price,” Scott Simmons, the city’s division director of Public Works and Utilities, says. “We already are a leader in generating renewable energy through our municipally owned and operated waste-to-energy facility. Partnering with Rubicon Global and their smart city technology expands our value to our citizens. Using this new technology, we will be able to operate more efficiently, make business decisions using comprehensive data, enhance our sustainability efforts and respond rapidly to customer needs.”

Tablets loaded with the Rubicon mobile app, as well as onboard plug-in devices, will be placed in the city of Spokane’s fleet of residential and commercial waste and recycling collection vehicles. With the mobile app and plug-in device, the city will be able to take and organize pictures at customer locations, flag locations, dispatch alerts and provide real-time GPS monitoring of each vehicle. The app will also help deliver precise pick-up times, optimize routes and reduce the need for truck repairs.  

The technology will provide the city with comprehensive planning data, notably by enabling real-time, transparent information about collection operations, routing, vehicle health, landfill diversion and recycling rates. The data will help the city understand how to improve its collection operations, as well as measure the carbon avoidance from recycling activities and track vehicle emission reduction targets in the city’s solid waste fleet.

RUBICONSmartCity has been rolled out in over 25 cities across the U.S., including Atlanta; Montgomery, Alabama; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Columbus, Georgia; Tyler, Texas; and West Memphis, Arkansas. 

Cities interested in learning more about RUBICONSmartCity can visit www.rubiconglobal.com/home-government/ to request a demonstration.