Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Trend Toward Cost Savings and Efficiency

Cost Savings and EfficiencyThe smart litter receptacle is coming to a campus near you. It’s smart enough, in fact, to save an estimated 20 percent to 40 percent on litter and recycling collection expenses. Knowing that a large university can easily generate 9,000,000 pounds of waste in a year, the savings potential is hard to ignore.

Sensing technology and a web interface integrate to become an intelligent waste management system. Using GPS and other sensors, the receptacles can continuously monitor and transmit fill level, temperature, weight, location and more to a cloud-based portal.

Traditional static systems allow for some receptacles to overfill before they are collected — an aesthetic and olfactory nuisance, for sure — while others that sit empty are collected anyway. This new approach allocates resources only where and when they are needed. It not only saves time, it decreases fuel costs, carbon footprints and unsightly waste overflows. This technology is available in both new receptacles and as a retrofit for the thousands currently in use.

About the Author

Emma Skalka is vice president of Sales and Marketing at Victor Stanley in Dunkirk, MD.

Featured

  • Arizona District Breaks Ground on Community Training, Learning Center

    The Tolleson Union High School District (TUHSD) in Tolleson, Ariz., recently broke ground on a new Training & Learning Center (TLC) for both district professionals and the community at large, according to a news release. The 90,000-square-foot facility has an estimated completion date of spring 2027.

  • Barbara Vick Western Branch

    Barbara Vick Western Branch

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Barbara Vick Western Branch has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.

  • Campus Safety Requires Using Every Resource Available

    Across the U.S., school and campus leaders are facing a security landscape that has changed dramatically over the past decade. Incidents on school property have increased in recent years, with several consecutive years setting record totals. According to analysis of data by CNN, dozens of shootings now occur on school grounds annually across K-12 and higher education environments.

  • Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts

    Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.