Bin curiosity

[Tim+]

Anyone come across one of these?

It seems to be an ultrasonic bin contents volume detector that lets the council know when one of their public bins needs emptying.

Sounds like quite a neat idea except that they must need charging periodically. Presumably they report via mobile phone networks.

This is the *only* one I've seen in any of our council bins and it's hanging at the wrong angle to possibly work.

Kinda tempted to take it home for an autopsy but it occurs to me it might have GPS. ;-)

Anyone come across these before?

Tim

[Richard]

No. but:

[Brian Gaff]

We have some here in Kingston. They are either wired in via a lamp post or are solar charged. Unfortunately they seem not to always work very well. there have I understand been photos emailed to the council of them overflowing and with stuff piled on the ground around them. I suspect like most apparently god ideas if you get the wrong kind of rubbish they fail. Brian

[Tim+]

I?ve seen that thanks. No mention of GPS on that site.

Tim

[Richard]

They mention this: <q>

When the Enevo sensor is installed in one of your bins you will be able to monitor the current fill level, temperature, location and tell if the bin is upright. It then uses this data to generate an optimised pickup route. </q>

Maybe they map the locations of the units by address. Move the unit to an adjacent street and watch ;)

[Tim+]

Ah, I missed that.

The installation is so poor I'm not sure it has ever worked as hoped for. It's mounted on the underside of a spring hinged flap and the weight of it overcomes the return spring meaning that the sensor isn't pointing down into the bin.

It's the sort of think Big Clive would probably love to dissect but only if it wasn't likely to give away his position. ;-)

Tim

[Tim Watts]

I wonder how it will fare once it's covered in puke, turds and docker's omelettes which is the state most of the bins in London look like they're in :-o

[Tim+]

Unless puke, turds etc. can levitate, it should escape those (if properly mounted).

Tim

[tim...]

can it really be cost effective to monitor this remotely

If there was a worthwhile saving in costs in not empting bins on a regular cycle the man who goes around replacing the bags in half empty bins wouldn't do so, he would leave the same bag in until the next regular cycle of checking

But he doesn't. He changes them all, full or otherwise

tim

[tim...]

is that a euphemism that I have missed?

tim

[Tim+]

Either I?m not understanding you or you?re not understanding the system.

No one will come to empty the bin/replace the bag unless the sensor indicates that the bin is full.

Tim

[Chris Hogg]

[tim...]

I know

replacing a system where a man goes around and empties all the bins in the area on the same day, full or otherwise

though the frequency of these regular collections will be timed so that, on average, bins are full

I just don't see how going around and only emptying half the bins that are full, and then having to come back sooner than previously to empty the other half as they are full, saves anything.

you will make more totals trips around the route coming back having emptied fewer bins each trip

But surely the costs of operating that van plus man over the route is the largest single cost here. The costs of taking the rubbish out of the bin and replacing its plastic liner is going to be at the noise level.

tim

[Mike Clarke]

Perhaps they wait until the sensors tell them that a certain percentage of bins in the area are full and then go round and empty the whole lot.

[Bob Eager]

I think it's related to pavement pizza.

[Richard]

It probably makes sense in the long term if the data is properly analysed. If you look around the Glasdon site, they seem to cater for a wide range of bin types and sizes. Knowing the approximate rate at which specific bins fill in a relatively small area could result in appropriately larger/smaller bins so that collections could be more efficient.

[harry]

What a load of bollix. All it takes is some form of human notification that the bin is full. Eg, some council website to be logged into.

[harry]

It would be more sensible to give full "full binners" an extra bin and reduce number of collections. Our bins are never more than half full. (Fortnightly collection)

[Richard]

Well, there's a job for you harry.

[Richard]

Oh, your property is so large that you have litter and recycling bins on all the roads?