This month, SmartEnds started commercial production of BrighterBins – a new smart garbage sensor that works on all three low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN), Sigfox, LoRa and NB-IoT. This is the smallest, lowest-cost, and most flexible smart garbage sensor available today.
Why was BrighterBins developed?
Every year, billions are wasted on the collection of garbage from municipal waste bins. Smart sensor solutions can lower the cost of garbage collection by 30-40% by minimizing the number of visits to partially filled bins. They can also make cities cleaner by identifying over-filled bins so they can be emptied before trash ends up on the ground.
Despite these benefits, less than 50,000 out of 8 million bins make use of a sensor system. Existing sensor solutions have several disadvantages:
● they are too large,
● they don’t fit in most bins,
● they are too costly, and
● current solutions don’t integrate well with existing city planning systems
What’s so special about BrighterBins?
Based on 4 man-years of engineering work, the BrighterBins device is 40-60% smaller than existing solutions and fits into 90% of bins. This sensor, priced at around 40% less than existing systems, is being launched with a choice of two platforms, thereby making it compatible with almost any garbage management system.
BrighterBins sensors are CE and IP certified.
The economics of smart garbage
Today, there are 8 million public bins in Europe and North America alone. A typical public bin is emptied 105 times per year at a cost of around €1,100. Almost half of the times these bins are emptied, they are less than 25% full.
Installing BrighterBins sensors will help cities to reduce garbage collection costs by ensuring that bins are emptied at the right time. Estimated saving per bin is around €350. BrighterBins don’t only save money, they also help keep cities cleaner and reduce unnecessary traffic.
Testimonials
Senra, a large LoRaWAN operator in India, recently committed to deploying Brighterbins in smart cities throughout the country. BrighterBins will enable Senra to be the first smart waste management network in the country.
“The biggest challenge for us was to find a smart waste solution that fits all types of bins. The only solution we found was BrighterBins,” said Ali Hosseini, CEO, Senra. “BrighterBins is a simple, cost-effective, easy to install, universal design that works seamlessly with our waste management platform and on our LoRaWAN network.”
Want to get involved?
Pilot projects are running in eight countries. SmartEnds is looking to reach over 40 countries by the end of the year.
Take a look at BrighterBins video presentation: