The increasing urbanisation is a result of an ever-growing urban population which in turn massively affects the environment. City and household wastes are not appropriately disposed of and this hinders the cleanliness of a city’s cleanliness. Fortunately, now there are automated solid waste management systems which are based on RFID technology. Many smart cities have adopted this automatic system to track a dustbin’s filling progress.
The city authorities like the corporation or municipality levy a charge for solid waste management. This is because collecting the waste, processing, and recycling it is expensive. But this has not curbed the quantity of waste because there was a fixed charge that every individual has to pay, irrespective of the amount of waste. With the implementation of Pay-As-You-Throw or PAYT in the solid waste management system, people will most probably think about the waste they create and throw.
Implementation of PAYT in the RFID-based waste management
The RIFD technology can help the PAYT system by calculating the amount that has to be paid for the amount of waste thrown. The RFID tag on waste bins will determine the level or weight of the waste disposed of with the help of the tag’s sensor. This will help in calculating the payable amount for the waste one throws.
There are different ways of adding the PAYT method to solid waste management. In some management systems, there can be different bins for different types of waste, e.g., food waste, medical waste, etc. There will be different charges for different categories. Another method can be supplying citizens with different sizes of bags and containers for waste. Or PAYT solid waste management system can count the number of trash bags.
To reduce the amount of waste, people should pay more for non-recyclable waste. An efficient solid waste management system is one which reduces the use and throw of non-recyclable wastes.
Parting note
There are two successful examples of the implementation of a solid waste management system, coupled with RFID and PAYT. One is the European Union model where every family has a garbage container with an RFID tag. They have to pay according to the volume of waste. Many U.S. cities have also started using this strategy. The other example is the Korean city, Seoul’s model. The waste is divided into different categories and one has to pay according to the waste they want to throw.
The RFID chip identifies both the volume and the category of rate, and recyclable waste is not charged. The PAYT system has worked wonders in controlling the amount of waste. Introducing RFID solid waste management system is a major step in building an eco-friendly environment. The article was authored by Bahaa Abdul Hadi and has been published by the editorial board of the Identity Herald. For more information please visit www.identityherald.com
