With the successful implementation of Victor Stanley Relay™ to optimize the city of Pittsburgh's trash collection system, a job that once required 25 people now only takes 8. Allowing workers to focus on other pressing tasks, including street repairs, cleaning up vacant lots, and improving street-level conditions in disadvantaged areas. Pittsburgh began implementing the Victor Stanley Relay smart waste management system to upgrade to a more efficient waste collection process. Using sensors embedded within their litter receptacles that measure how full the containers are, and then transmit that information to the people responsible for collecting them, the city found a way to create and utilize real-time data – from the very company whose containers were already ubiquitous on the city’s streets. With the Relay system’s built-in GPS used for managing their waste receptacle inventory, the city deployed more than 1,200 Relay containers.

A cost savings analysis provided even further justification for collecting only the containers which reach at least 90% full, instead of collecting containers regardless of fill level. The savings analysis shows that the 90% full collection model can achieve an average monthly savings of more than $128,000. This translates to roughly $1.54 million over the course of a year. Equipment depreciation costs are reduced, fuel use is significantly reduced, and the laborers previously making superfluous trips to unfilled containers can be reallocated towards higher priority items instead.

Relay sensors were soon after piloted for their parks. The sensors were originally deployed at Pittsburgh's Frick Park and have since been spreading throughout the city as parks are renovated. They have proved beneficial for the parks, especially in hard to access areas like trails. Previously, trucks would slowly navigate these trails to check whether a waste container required collection. Now, the Relay sensors omit the need for this time consuming duty by monitoring the fill levels and weights of all containers so that they can be collected at the optimal time. Accurate container status from the service portal is accessible from anywhere, through any device (via web portal) including web browser, smartphone, tablet, and the new Relay app.

Pittsburgh is also approaching the task of CO2 reduction by way of carbon sequestration from the 40,000 trees the city currently has street-side. The Relay system can enhance this initiative as well, using its environmental sensors to measure the temperature of every container within the city. When these sensors determine an area has atypically high temperatures, the city can then evaluate and determine if there is insufficient tree coverage, which would provide analytical support for planting trees there in the future.

“The smart cans allow DPW to offer better refuse services to Pittsburgh residents and neighborhood business districts, while freeing up our workers to do other work to keep the city tidy.” - Mike Gable, City of Pittsburgh Public Works Director

Read our collaborative Case Study for more results from the City of Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Case Study