Waste collections reduced by 50,000 through smart bins

After replacing 56 traditional bins with 23 Bigbelly smart stations, Rugby Borough Council has reduced its annual waste collections by 49,591 in 12 months.

The council was previously making three collections per day for each traditional bin, which amounted to 51,100 waste collections a year. Since October 2015, when the council implemented Bigbelly’s smart stations, the council now only makes 1,509 waste collections a year – a saving of 97 per cent.

Sean Lawson, head of environment and public realm at Rugby Borough Council, comments: “For a long time now we’ve wanted to do things differently, yet couldn’t find the solution that could achieve what we needed without going over budget. Now that we’ve found Bigbelly, not only can we meet our own targets in tandem with improving the urban realm, but also save precious council resource in the process.

“Not too long ago we’d carry out regular waste collection ‘milk rounds’, regardless of whether the bins needed emptying or not, simply because we had a schedule to adhere to. These days, we’re notified when collections need to be made and can clearly see when bins don’t need emptying just by looking at a smart device or office computer.”