Knowing where things are clean, and where not
Solid waste collection and processing is a huge logistical operation, day in and day out. In order to make optimal use of equipment and staff, one needs to consider many variables: locations of waste bins and processing facilities, bin fillup levels, truck capacity, staff availability and traffic conditions. All this data can be connected to Nexus to provide a complete picture of daily operations. One of the latest developments are so called smart bins that automatically monitor fillup status. Nexus can ingest that data and show a real time overview of waste bin status. Such an overview can be combined with incoming geolocated social media feeds and service calls of citizens about overflowing bins or littering. Additionally locations of upcoming events, such as concerts or festivals, can be added to provide further insight.
Improving operational effiency
With Nexus as single hub for these combined data sources organizations get complete and real time situational awareness. This allows for business improvements on several levels:
- Strategical improvements, such as optimization of trucking routes and timing of waste collection, determining staffing requirements and deciding where to place new or larger bins. The plugin architecture of Nexus allows the functionality to be extended with data-driven algorithms. An example plugin is mathematical optimization of trucking routes based on latest traffic forecasts and real time fillup status of waste bins, which saves fuel costs by minimizing travel distance of collection trucks.
- Tactical information sharing with partner organizations. Users can track, on street level, which areas experience frequent waste dumping or littering. This information, when combined with possible causing factors, such as nearby shops, restaurants or criminal incidents, can provide insight into the nature of this environmental pollution. Nexus allows organizations to share own information with relevant authorities, such as municipalities and law enforcement.
- On operational level, Nexus can send data-driven alerts, in which subscribed employees automatically get an e-mail in case a predetermined maximum number of bins is full, or whenever the number of citizen reports exceeds a threshold. With such alerts, immediate action can be taken.