The 4 Most Irritating Challenges Faced in Municipal Waste Management Operations

Municipal waste management operations – it’s an area that hasn’t been innovated for a long time, resulting in some major challenges to achieving more effective and sustainable operations.

Local authorities are currently expected to do more with less in their municipal waste management operations. To be more efficient, more digital, and more sustainable, but with smaller budgets, fewer workers and fewer resources.

Here are four major challenges we see with current municipal waste management operations:

1. 1. Using Multiple Systems & Spreadsheets That Limit Data Flows

   Whether it’s spreadsheet-based operations or using an array of disconnected systems, it’s difficult to bring all data together as a single source of truth for optimised decision-making. It’s challenging to streamline and automate processes when the systems used for route planning, citizen management, billing and so on, can’t be integrated.

1. 2. Fragmented Communication Between Drivers, Back Office and Customers

   Without digital tools that connect stakeholders, the instant transfer of information between teams and automation of common requests isn’t possible. This means local authorities and private haulers lack the agility and flexibility to respond quickly to daily issues. This not only creates frustration between drivers and back office teams, but impacts the quality of service for citizens.

1. 3. Using Systems That Can’t Analyse Data Or Integrate With New Technologies

   While current waste management software might ‘get the job done’, local authorities and private haulers have a difficult time making sense of valuable data, particularly when it’s coming from different sources. Local authorities and private haulers understand they could be operating more sustainably and efficiently, but outdated systems can’t integrate with new technologies (such as fill level sensors and weight sensors) for them to understand how to optimise performance.

1. 4. Poor Management of Complex Infrastructure & Route Plans

   Managing municipal waste collection for tens of thousands of citizens and commercial customers involves a complex infrastructure of assets, fleets, routes and customer data. For local authorities and private haulers, this information is usually tied up in spreadsheets and is difficult to track. Routes are often managed manually with limited data insights, leading to inefficient collection schedules and high costs.

The WasteHero Platform unifies sleek software solutions with world-leading optimisation capabilities, smart hardware, third-party system integrations and on-vehicle technologies to empower local authorities to operate efficiently, productively and more sustainably.

WasteHero’s municipal waste management software platform is completely customizable and scalable, so the final product is a solution that is tailored specifically to the needs of the local authority or hauler.

Want to learn more? Contact WasteHero today.