Today’s RFID systems provide the tools for meeting demanding challenges, while enabling operators to reduce fleet costs and provide a more comprehensive service to their customers.
Richard Aufreiter
Waste management service companies face a number of challenges in an era of increased expectations related to efficiency and accountability, and the advent of demanding sustainability and other “green” initiatives. Challenges include reducing unproductive trips, increasing route and fleet efficiencies, and potentially supporting the data-tracking needs of incentive-based customer recycling programs. In many cases, underperforming trucks must be redeployed to areas or routes that are more heavily burdened. Additionally, municipalities increasingly want greater accountability from their providers for services rendered, and a quick resolution when there is bin loss or damage. Meanwhile, in the commercial and industrial sectors, it is increasingly essential to manage and know the locations of all high-value assets and containers.
RFID technology provides a reliable and durable solution for meeting these challenges. In the past, tracking waste was a slow, costly and labor-intensive process. Modern RFID technology has played a game-changing role in the industry by bringing about a major shift in how waste management companies operate, whether it’s managing weighbridges, optimizing fleet efficiency, or analyzing individual customer profit and loss. In order to realize RFID technology’s benefits, though, it is necessary to build the right system for the application—one that provides the optimal combination of reliability, functionality and performance, and is backed by all necessary product warranties, technical support and customer service.
RFID System Benefits
Most consumers and businesses don’t think about what happens to waste after they dispose of it, but those responsible for waste handling have a huge stake in knowing and managing information about what they collect, how much they collect, where it originates and where it goes.
RFID tags attached to waste containers deliver this critical information by supporting the identification and traceability of waste streams. In a typical home or business, the unique ID number of a tag is associated with a bin and that bin’s owner or address. During the process of recognizing, lifting and registering bins, the tag is read and the information is time-coded and logged. In applications such as medical waste, the receptacle itself is collected, transported to a disposal point and returned to its place of origin. In such applications, a read/write tag may actually collect, as well as disseminate, information.
The goal of an RFID solution is to simplify operator tasks, provide increased transparency of operations and maximize returns on an operator’s investment. RFID systems enable operators to monitor sorting quality, and to track the weight of each container’s content and how often a container is set out for collection. These systems also simplify billing for service, and support the implementation of incentive-based invoicing for recycling and other programs.
Variation in weight of waste from one unit or dwelling to another is one of several principle drivers for the use of RFID solutions. Waste can vary from 1,100 to 4,400 pounds per year from one house to the next. RFID technology encourages recycling as it enables a system to manage charges based on usage, rather than applying a flat charge for every customer. In the U.S., a bonus is sometimes paid for recycling, and this practice is growing in popularity around the world, creating the need for reliable data tracking.
Considerations in the high-volume commercial and industrial sectors are slightly different. For example, if a truck collects roughly 140 containers a day, it is critical that management knows the truck’s weight, pickup times and location. Operators also need to know how often containers are put out, and how much is in them. RFID technology supplies this data, which can be analyzed at regular intervals to suit management reporting schedules.
In the building industry, very large and expensive roll-on/roll-off containers must be managed and tracked efficiently. In order to optimize efficiency, management needs to know the location of these assets at all times, and must be able to track what containers are on what truck, and what containers are with which customer. Everything requires careful management, from skip hire, through roll-on/roll-off to commercial rounds, and on to gate receipts and material sales. RFID technology gathers and relays information about asset location to the back office, enabling decisions to be made regarding route efficiency and optimization. Management also has ready access to information about the weight usage of every customer, and profit margins.
Additionally, organizations can use RFID information for credit control—if a customer hasn’t paid their bill, the waste management company can use RFID to stop the bin from being lifted.
Implementing an RFID system also can have a positive impact on customer service. Some users have seen call center queries drop by as much as 80 percent as a result of having vital waste collection data immediately available to their staff.
Building a System
The selection of tags and readers can have a huge impact on the success of a waste management initiative. Products must be designed specifically for the task, providing unique identification of bins. Tag reliability is also essential, and there can be no duplication of user ID numbers. System components also must be backed by warranties and support, and there must be the ability to choose from a comprehensive range of solutions.
Tags are available today for a broad range of operations including residential and commercial bins, medical waste containers, skips, bottle banks and more. Operators can select from standard off-the-shelf bin tags and custom-designed options, such as push-in bin tags for steel containers and OEM reader modules. The latter provide a high level of read range and performance, and a wider variety of tag options. For instance, in some applications, it may be necessary to embed the tag into the wheelie bin, so that a reader on the truck can take the weight on the way up and down as well as the GPS coordinates. All information is relayed to the back office, providing valuable intelligence for decision-making on route efficiency and fleet optimization, and for recording exceptions such as “missed bin,” “access blocked” and “bin contaminated.”
For older bins in the field, plug tags can be easily installed. This is particularly important for service providers with large investments in existing bins. Screw-in bin tags are also popular, because of their superior durability. Waste bins come in many shapes, materials and sizes, but whether they are large or small, metal or plastic, or residential or commercial, they are all subject to harsh environments and rough handling. They may face heat, cold, rain, snow and ice, as well as harsh chemicals, inside or out. In some applications, the rigors of power-washing are an issue, and yet tags are expected to last a decade or more. Even in ordinary use, they are tossed, turned and dropped, either by humans or machines. With screw-in tags, chips are bonded to the antenna, and then the device is encapsulated in resin to provide maximum tensile strength and superior resistance to weather, shock and humidity. The tag is designed for installation as a step in the bin manufacturing process.
Another important tag option is tag size. For instance, epoxy tags are available in 20 mm sizes for curbside bins and 30mm sizes for bin producers that need to embed the tag during manufacturing. Versions should be available to meet low frequency (125 kHz), high frequency (13.56 MHz) and ultra-high frequency (869-956 MHz). Waste management related standards include HDX, FDX-b BDE, EN 14803, DIN 30745 and ISO 11785. To complete the solution, reader boards must meet established standards and performance requirements. It also should be possible to incorporate readers into hand-held or vehicle-mounted devices, and to be connected to a variety of controller- and host-based systems.
Meeting Today’s Demanding Challenges
Given the sophistication of RFID technology, it is also important to have a long-term relationship with the RFID solutions provider. The provider should offer a broad portfolio of standards-compliant tags and readers, and should have a strong reputation for engineering design-in expertise, a proven track record extending across millions of deployed tags, and the ability to offer the full range of product warranties and comprehensive service and support.
The demands of waste management will continue to grow, as “green” and other sustainability initiatives demand closer tracking of recycling streams. Operators also need to maximize efficiency and accountability, protect valuable assets, and potentially support incentive-based recycling programs that encourage waste reduction. Additionally, changes in waste handling technology or the special needs of certain applications may require the ability to track different types of materials in different ways, not just at pickup, but through the entire waste management process. Today’s RFID systems provide the tools for meeting these and other demanding challenges, while enabling operators to reduce fleet costs and provide a more comprehensive service to their customers.
Richard Aufreiter is Director of Product Marketing, Identification Technologies with HID Global (Irvine, CA). He is responsible for the product management of the industry’s most diverse and flexible line of contactless transponder products and radio frequency identification tags in low frequency, high frequency and ultra-high frequency used for animal identification and industry and logistics applications, as well as cards and inlays for NFC and non-NFC use. He can be reached at (949) 732-2000 or (800) 237-7769, or e-mail [email protected].