RFID Maximizes the Efficiency of Recycling and Waste Management

With costs rising at all points in the waste management process, shrinking landfill space, and growing consumer interest in recycling, RFID is enabling cities and towns across the country to foster recycling while improving the efficiency of their waste operations.

Taking advantage of RFID’s ability to reliably identify individual receptacles, municipalities can create incentive-based recycling programs that accurately reward customers for the amount they recycle, while minimizing the amount of trash headed for the landfill. By automating the collection of all waste, RFID can assure that individual bins have been collected, providing verification of service. In addition this information can be used to optimize truck usage and routes. With a fully automatic data collection system based on RFID, versus manual methods, customer billing processes can be streamlined and more accurate. 

Automated accuracy in all aspects of collection and disposal is a primary reason the recycling and waste industry is adopting RFID in the following areas. 

Incentive-Based Recycling: A handful of forward-thinking municipalities are already using RFID tags for incentive-based recycling. One recent example is the city of Philadelphia’s partnership with Recycle Bank. Philadelphia residents receive a bin fitted with a low frequency (LF) RFID tag that identifies each household. Recycling trucks are outfitted with a scale and a RFID reader. On recycling pick up day, a resident’s bin is placed on a scale, identified by the RFID tag and reader, and then weighed. The Recycle Bank system tracks how many pounds of recycling each household produces per month, and the households then receive Recycle Bank Rewards Dollars. Residents can redeem rewards dollars with more than 300 retailers.

Bill by Volume: Depending on the city or town, trash collection pricing structures vary from flat fee, pay-as-you-throw and pay-by-weight. As recycling efforts become more mainstream, municipalities may turn away from flat fee-based systems and charge customers according to the amount of waste they generate. RFID technology improves the accuracy and efficiency of bill-by-volume waste collection. As the fully automated truck lifts the RFID-tagged bin to empty it, the tag’s ID number is read and eventually processed into individual customer invoices. Trucks fitted with scales can add weight data for pay-by-weight billing as well. 

Specialty Disposal: RFID can also be used to identify, secure and verify items for disposal such as corporate documents destined for shredding or recycling, or hazardous waste that has to be hauled safely to an approved disposal site. Data collection can be accomplished with handheld devices that record each point of transfer and the information can be integrated with scheduling, work order and billing systems eliminating the need for manual or duplicate data-entry.

How RFID Works

It all starts with an RFID tag, which is designed in rugged plastic housing to protect it from rain, dirt and other environmental conditions. The tag is attached to the trash receptacle. A reader/antenna embedded into the truck captures the tag’s ID as each receptacle is emptied. Data collected from the tags, which can be linked with a time stamp, type of container, weight of the container, and customer information, can be sent directly to a host computer using 802.11 wireless connectivity or other wireless protocols. The data can also be stored in the truck’s onboard computer and later transferred to a central waste management system for data processing.

Tags can also be used to identify the trucks themselves. The unique code in a truck’s tag is read when it drives over an in-ground antenna as it arrives at the deposit facility. The data is passed to a central computer where the truck’s identity, load description and weight are recorded. 

Unlike barcodes, which require direct line of sight to be read and are easily scratched or damaged in the harsh waste and recycling environment, RFID tags do not require line of site, and can be read in milliseconds so they won’t slow down or otherwise interfere with the trash collector’s job. RFID tags and reader/antennas can be robustly designed, making them a more permanent form of unique identification that is automatic and more accurate than barcode technology.