Smart household waste management
EU Waste Framework Directive targets recycling rates of 50% by 2020 for municipal waste. To reach this goal new waste management strategies need to be applied by municipalities, not only to align with EU recycling targets but also to be able to cover increasing disposal costs. Strategies should begin by making households aware of the necessity to lower their waste generation, while increasing their recycling rate. One of the most effective ways to motivate households, is through ""Pay as you throw"" (PAYT) schemes, based on the implementation of a disposal fee per household, according to the amount of waste generated. In order to be able to apply PAYT schemes, selective waste collection needs to be implemented by municipalities or waste management companies. One of the most common, is door-to-door (DtD) waste collection, as it greatly facilitates the application of PAYT schemes while promoting recycling among households. Even though, the combination of DtD collection with PAYT greatly reduces the load of waste generated, current systems to account for the amounf of waste generated per household are not accurate. They quantify based on the number of bags/bins (with a set volume) each household generates, without considering that in many occasions these bags/bins are just partially filled upon collection. Nevertheless, households are charged the same, neglecting if all the volume has been filled. A new accurate measuring system is needed. We are Distromel, a spanish company specialized in the develoment of technological solutions for the waste management market. Aiming to solve an increasing concurrent demand from private and public WM companies, we have created SmartDtD: a certified weighing and identification system (RFID number) integrated in a container that can be embedded in any truck (under EN-840).SmartDtD is a technological solution specially designed for door-to-door waste collection that will help optimize waste collection services as well as PAYT programs.