Tracking solution for waste containers
Planning the provision and transport processes of waste containers between recycling centres, customer locations and, for example, disposal facilities with flexibility and efficiency has long been a challenge for waste management. With the tracking solution from Sensolus, EGW has now created transparency and the best conditions for optimal processes.
Since its foundation in 1994, Entsorgungsgesellschaft Westmünsterland mbH (EGW) has been a municipal company in the district of Borken, Germany, that has been responsible for the recycling and disposal of various types of waste, such as municipal residual waste, bulky waste, organic waste, green waste, construction waste, scrap metals and e-waste.
On behalf of various cities and municipalities, EGW operates around a dozen recycling centres in the 153 square kilometre district of Borken on the Dutch border. A total of 160 roll-off containers are regularly on the move between the various recycling centres, the customer locations and the disposal and recycling facilities: The disposal and recycling of the waste is carried out partly according to fixed schedules, partly flexibly – according to the requirements and filling level of the containers.
It was extremely tedious to keep track of which waste container was where due to the high circulation. Often you had to make a lot of phone calls to colleagues or even visit the site directly.“About ten years ago, we wanted a solution that would allow us to precisely locate our containers in order to save us the effort of manually tracking the waste containers,” recalls Erwin Rießle, Head of Material Flow Management at EGW.
At that time, however, such solutions did not yet have the necessary market maturity despite high prices. In 2021, EGW repeated its market research and systematically compared the offers of five tracker providers.
Sensolus with the best hardware, network coverage and management platform for waste management
After extensive market research, the IoT-based tracking solution from Sensolus ultimately won the race because it best met all the criteria and was able to collect the following plus points compared to the competitors at the same price level.
Compact tracker size and optimal battery life:
Sensolus’ wireless trackers are robust and can withstand harsh outdoor conditions. Unlike some competitors, which were up to 20 centimetres long, the Sensolus trackers offer a compact external dimension of just under 8×12 centimetres with a long-term battery life of up to ten years. In this way, they can be attached to the EGW containers well and protected.
Best network coverage in the border area:
The district of Borken is located in the western Münsterland region directly on the German border. The Sensolus trackers were able to score points with NBIoT connectivity, with reliable localization near the border.
Easy-to-use asset management platform:
Sensolus also impressed EGW with its easy-to-use cloud-based platform for tracker management. It offers the most extensive functionality of the tested solutions and combines them with a high level of clarity and ease of use. Drivers can also conveniently use the mobile app to access all important container information at any time for their on-the-go planning.
Quick and easy installation to waste containers
After its market research and the fundamental decision in favour of Sensolus, EGW ordered ten Sensolus trackers in March 2022 to test their use in everyday work. As soon as the cloud-based Sensolus platform was activated for EGW users, the individual trackers could be mounted on the containers, easily logged into the management platform via NBIoT connectivity, and then located and displayed on a map at any time.
“Our goal was to be able to accurately record each individual container using a tracker, to know at any time how many containers are located at each location, and to be notified as soon as a container is in motion,” explains Rießle.
This worked smoothly with the Sensolus trackers, and EGW ordered an additional 150 trackers in the summer of 2022 to gradually equip all containers. Since the summer of 2023, the waste management company has enjoyed a full overview of its entire waste container inventory and the flow of these movable, non-powered assets.
Optimal planning of waste container journeys
Thanks to the Sensolus trackers, EGW can now precisely locate all 160 containers with just a glance at the map, and the corresponding disposal and transport processes can be managed and optimized with an overview.
“If the company needs containers, all we need to do is check our Sensolus dashboard to see the exact availability of containers in each geozone,” says Julia Kerkhoff as a key user. Of course, the truck drivers also benefit from this.
Simplify security checks & prevent theft
In addition to optimizing daily processes, the knowledge of the location of your containers also brings other advantages: The new transparency creates a clear basis for coordination and container management.“We can now see exactly if and where containers are still being hoarded,” explains Erwin Rießle. “Instead of buying new inventory, we can now put less used containers back into circulation. This saves costs and reduces new purchases.”
To ensure that the containers are maintained properly, they must also be regularly checked in accordance with the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health (BetrSichV) to ensure, for example, that hooks are intact, doors are ok and sheet metal is thick enough. “We are now also using Sensolus to track the status of our containers,” Rießle continues. “This makes it easy for us to see when which containers are due for inspection and, above all, where our inspector can find them.”
In addition, waste containers are significantly more expensive today than they were a few years ago. This makes them attractive to theft, especially if their content is also valuable. Traceability is also helpful for the EGW in such cases.
“We are pleased that tracking systems have reached market maturity today and that we have found a powerful IoT-based solution in Sensolus to be able to precisely locate our containers – even in the border area,” says Erwin Rießle, summarizing the project. “This not only ensures significantly more efficiency in our daily transport and disposal processes, but also offers optimisation prospects for the future: for example, by integrating it into our ERP system.”
