Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Connected Waste Receptacles Enhance Efficiency

  • 09/01/18
Victor Stanley

Victor Stanley’s connected waste receptacles made pickup and monitoring easier for campus staff, cutting down on unnecessary waste collection in the process.

Smart, connected phones, watches, thermostats, and even refrigerators (to name just a few examples) no longer occupy the fringe of technology. In fact, our culture’s epic shift toward “The Internet of Things,” as it’s known, is in full swing. Victor Stanley, a leading designer and manufacturer of premium site furnishings, has introduced a new generation of connected, intelligent waste receptacles. They’re smart enough, in fact, to save an estimated 40 percent on litter and recycling collection expenses each year.

Mr. Patrick Harrity, Rutgers University’s director of Grounds & Fleet Operations, adopted the new waste management system in an effort to initiate “less time spent on trash bin dumping labor and less trash bag usage.”

Traditional waste management allows for receptacles to overfill before they are collected—an aesthetic and olfactory nuisance, for sure—while others sit empty, yet are collected anyway. Victor Stanley’s innovative approach allocates collection resources where and when they are needed. It turns out these smart receptacles save not only time, but also decrease fuel costs and carbon footprints.

Using GPS in conjunction with other sensors, the receptacles continuously monitor and transmit fill levels, while also conveying temperatures, weights, and other environmental data to a custom online platform. Monitoring of containers provides a holistic view of an area’s trash and recycling status, and improves landfill diversion.

Campuses can employ networks of connected receptacles that enable collection planning and routing that is substantially more efficient. To maintain aesthetics and prevent vandalism, Victor Stanley’s sensors are hidden within their litter receptacles or recycling stations. Mr. Harrity is pleased with the seamless integration, noting that Relay “matches all our other receptacles.” Victor Stanley Relay is available for new receptacles and as a retrofit for their side-door receptacles.

victorstanley.com/product/relay

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management September 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Miami University Approves New $242M Multipurpose Arena

    Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, recently announced that its Board of Trustees has approved construction of a new multipurpose arena at Cook Field, according to university news. The $242-million project will serve as a new centralized hub for student life and create space for economic development on campus.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.

  • North Texas School District Completes Third New Elementary School

    The Denton Independent School District in Dallas, Texas, recently finished construction on its third prototype design elementary school, Reeves Elementary, according to a news release.

  • California School District Completes Elementary School Modernization

    The San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting for a whole-site modernization of Pacific Beach Elementary School, according to local news. The school first opened with one building in 1930 and added six more between 1938 and 1957.