In this period of health crisis, the number of masks and gloves on the floor is not even counted anymore. We are seeing a very significant increase in waste. In order to maintain a public space that is always clean, the waste management policy must be improved. In addition, optimized waste disposal is necessary to achieve a clean and healthy community living environment.
Insufficient number of city trash
According to a study carried out by the association Zéro Déchet Touraine (access the study) the average density of waste garbage cans in France is about 1 garbage can for 77 inhabitants. It also found that most of the municipal services surveyed did not know the distance between two of their litter garbage cans.
In this period of health crisis, we can observe a terrifying growth in the number of litter garbage cans in streets and parks. Gloves, masks, the amount of garbage on the ground is impressive. Why such an observation? In some cities the baskets are overflowing, the waste is piling up and piling up, and is deposited everywhere around. The number of baskets is insufficient and collections are not done regularly enough.
Conversely, some municipalities such as Nevers or Rennes have chosen to remove some baskets in order to make users more responsible. What is the purpose of this? To make users responsible for their waste and to dispose of it in appropriate places.
Sorting at the source is difficult to set up
The waste garbage cans are still mostly used to collect mixed garbage, without allowing sorting at the source of the waste. Urban cleanliness is a very big challenge for municipalities. One possible solution is to install sorting garbage cans to reduce the annual tonnages of municipal waste and thus the costs associated with its collection and treatment. According to the study carried out by the Zéro Déchet Touraine association, less than 4% of the French cities studied offer sorted waste collection via their city-center litter garbage cans.
It can be seen that municipalities have obstacles to the deployment of sorting garbage cans in public spaces: the cost of installation and management can be high, it will be necessary to fight against the incivilities of users and organize the delivery of waste to recycling centers.
An innovative solution to manage cleanliness
To keep an area always clean, you need to know when to move to empty the garbage can to avoid overflows that “force” users to put their waste out of the garbage can. With the IoT (Internet of Things), it is possible! You just have to put a sensor in your waste garbage can, it raises the filling level and alerts you by a simple sms when your garbage can is full. Thanks to this, no more overflowing so a always clean space and a tour optimized to best meet the needs of users.
We carried out a study on this subject, if it interests you it is by there >>> Study of the impact of the crisis on urban cleanliness
