PrisymID Reduces British Refuse Through Unique Waste Monitoring System

Published 13th September 2007

PRISYMID, the leading developer of barcode and RFID software, today officially launched the PRISYM Waste Monitoring system set to reduce Britain’s 18 million tonnes of annual waste sent to landfill. After successful pilots with several councils across England and Wales earlier this year, anticipated demand for the PRISYM Waste Monitoring system is high as Councils look for ways to effectively monitor their waste collections and increase participation in kerbside recycling programs...

“Council’s are under increasing pressure to improve recycling rates within their kerbside collections. Britain will run out of landfill sites in ten years at the current rate. It is likely that Councils’ targets for diverting recyclable material from landfill will continue to rise steeply,” warns PRISYM Divisional Manager Dave Taylor. “PRISYM Waste Monitoring system addresses this problem by being able to rapidly reduce the amount of household waste through better education and more efficient management of traditional waste collection methods.”

PRISYM Waste Monitoring is an RFID or barcode based reporting system designed for waste and recycling collection management. The system monitors and manages domestic and commercial waste collections.

Peterborough City Council is about to run a pilot using the new PRISYM Waste Monitoring system. “Peterborough City Council is working with Prisym ID to improve their service delivery in regards to waste management.(domestic collections)PCC and Prisym are researching a new bar code readers and IT technology to provide service data enabling improved reporting on participation, contamination, and general waste management information. It is hoped that the success of the project will enable the council to invest and further develop this type of technology further in the future,” explains Peterborough City Council’s Section Head Environmental Quality & Enforcement Paul Pace. "This pilot is likely to demonstrate how simple changes to collection process, improved data gathering and reporting will enable waste officers to plan targeted campaigns, more effectively enforce new environmental standards and increase the availability of information to provide better customer client relationships."

Bin Operatives are issued with easy to use robust Unitech HT630 hand held barcode scanners that are drop tested to withstand multiple drops from 1.5 metres. The operatives scan each bin as it is collected, recording for recycling participation, proof of collection or to note any damage to the bin. Common complications with recycling or refuse collection can be caused by damaged bins, overloaded containers, side waste or contamination. Each bin is scanned and the time and date is recorded for each collection.

At the end of the day they place the scanners into a docking station at the depot, which recharges them for use the next day and uploads the data collected from the round, importing it into the PRISYM Waste Monitoring system. Once the data is in the system, detailed reports and statistics on resident participation of planned recycling schemes and compliance with general use practices are produced. PRISYM Waste Monitoring can even be configured to automatically issue letters to the householder depending on the collection type and the problem found. These notifications help to minimise future waste collection issues and educate them to recycle responsibly and reduce the overall Landfill cost.

Landfill Tax was set up in 1996 to encourage waste producers to produce less waste, recover more value from waste through recycling or composting and to use more environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal. Currently £24 a tonne, the Tax is set to rise to £48 a tonne by 2010. Figures released recently by the Local Government Association shows that councils could be paying up to £3bn in landfill tax over the next four years.

“The financial and environmental cost to local government of overusing the finite landfill sites can not be underestimated,” added Taylor. “Installing the PRISYM Waste Monitoring system helps to reduce these financial costs, whilst providing councils and their constituents with the capability to ensure a better future for us all through improving the efficiency of recycling programmes.”