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

  • California K–12 District Finishes Renovations on Multi-Sport Stadium

    The Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) in Alameda, Calif., recently announced the completion of a renovation project on the Encinal Jr. & Sr. High School stadium, according to a news release. The district partnered with Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) and Bothman Construction on the facility, and funding came from Bond Measure B.

  • Massachusetts K–12 District Selects Architect for New Junior High

    Swansea Public Schools in Swansea, Mass., recently announced that it has selected Finegold Alexander Architects to design a new junior high school for the district, according to a news release. The firm will create the Feasibility Study and Schematic Design for Joseph Case Junior High School after a lengthy selection process by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

  • 144-Year-Old High-School Campus Debuts New Academic Facility

    San Diego High School (SDHS) in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new student services and classroom building; the project is part of a larger SDHS Whole Site Modernization project that began in 2022.

  • DFW-Area District Opens New Replacement Middle School

    The Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District near Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new replacement middle school campus, according to a news release. The new facility for Wayside Middle School, originally established in 1964, was built on the site of the former district administration building and funded through Bond Proposition A in 2023.