Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are rapidly permeating all aspects of human endeavor. While headlines often stoke fears that AI may replace uniquely human activities like artistic expression and creative pursuits, AI-driven solutions can augment human capabilities in positive ways. In particular, AI has the potential to optimize efficiency and promote sustainability, especially when it comes to waste management.

Today, AI-powered applications can help us move mountains when it comes to reducing the impact of waste. We're starting to see many jurisdictions adopt AI and automation to help with monitoring their residential and commercial waste streams for contamination and incidents, as well as identify opportunities for further diversion from landfill.

Saving Time: 

Route reviews and lid flips are a manual process that takes time and exerts physical effort. Even if you (or your waste hauler) benefits from technology like truck cameras, time can be lost by manually verifying or auditing your findings to ensure the right address receives the right information. The latest generation of mobile devices are able to perform significant computations in a fraction of a second suited for complex AI applications. By leveraging these devices’ offline capabilities along with the power of AI to automatically identify contamination and bin fullness levels, field inspectors can conduct their audits efficiently. 

When the City of Oakland started using Zabble’s Mobile Tagging platform to support their route review efforts, they were able to perform the same volume of inspections in half the time. They also received real-time automated reporting that greatly reduced the amount of time needed to compile and analyze data back in the office. 

Now, Zabble’s customers are able to fully inspect 3-cart residential streams at the rate of 33 accounts per hour or 1 account in 1.8 minutes, depending on the distance between houses.   

Easier Compliance: 

Compliance with state legislation is becoming increasingly complex, especially in states like California where adherence to SB1383 requires proper data collection and reporting. Knowing how to select accounts and plan for the lid flips, which items are considered contaminants, what data to capture, and when to leave OOPS tags or follow up with a resident or a business, are all key to conducting an efficient route review. Leveraging AI and automation can help plan your routes, capture and categorize relevant contamination and bin-fullness data, and close the loop with automatic communication notifications can all make compliance an easier task. (Refer to our blog on eight steps for efficient route reviews.) 

Jurisdictions are also complying with several laws at any given point in time from state laws such as SB1383, AB341 and AB1826 and other local laws on bag and styrofoam bans. Keeping everything straight in one place is a challenge. Any AI and automation platform needs to be flexible enough to support multiple types of changing legislative requirements. 

In the case of the City of Oakland, the automated reporting provided by the Zabble Zero Mobile Tagging platform helped them comply with California's regulations, specifically SB1383’s container contamination minimization requirement. 

Data-Driven Education & Decision Making:

Community outreach is vital to spreading awareness around proper disposal of waste and driving urgency toward your jurisdiction’s waste goals. Scientific method is a commonly used empirical technique to run measurable experiments and drive effective communication campaigns. However, understanding the audience’s perspective and meeting them in their environment is paramount to a successful behavior change or an educational campaign. 

For example, are the residents tech savvy enough to respond to email or in-app notifications with targeted messaging? Or would the residents pay more attention to mailers and printed material?  

Ultimately, the campaign should take into account the type of messaging, their audience, the distribution method and the desired outcome. Results should inform decisions for future campaigns. 

Instant personalized feedback, either via OOPS tags or email notifications, plays a really important role in effective communication. Jurisdictions can utilize a combination of images and empathetic messaging via multi-channel distribution methods to connect with their target audience. 

When a contamination incident occurs, the City of Watsonville’s field inspectors take a picture of the cart or dumpster with the OOPS Tag on it as evidence, in addition to capturing a digital tag using the Zabble’s Mobile Tagging software. When the resident or business calls the customer service team, they are able to find information, as captured by a field inspector, on the Mobile Tagging web dashboard to engage with their customers.

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For more information on successful client case studies, feel free to reach out to us here.  

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