By Matthew Morin, Zabble Inc. 

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Does technology hold the key?

The mission is clear. Your school has a zero waste initiative.

You have a gut feeling about the problems. Maybe you’ve seen piles of coffee cups and pizza boxes in the wrong receptacles, and maybe you know which buildings on campus need the most help. There’s one problem: If you’re going to prove your hunch and fix the problem, you’ll need the data.

So how do you get it?

Technology holds some answers for us- 

• Cameras can collect data at the bin or from the truck. 
• Sensors can collect weights and help us understand pick-up times and fullness data. 
• Robotics can take that extra step to correct improper sorting or disposal. 
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So why is this a challenge?

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Well it all starts with money. The road to acquiring budget and grants for sustainability initiatives can be a bumpy one. Depending on the device, the purchase of physical equipment to track the contents of your waste can cost thousands of dollars per bin. Multiply that for every additional building or waste stream you plan to collect data for.

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And what’s the answer?

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Hear me out: It’s people. 

You may not realize it, but you have zero waste champions who are motivated to help - people who are committed to making a difference.

• Zero Waste Coordinators
• Student Interns
• Sustainability, Grounds & Facilities Staff
• Sustainability Volunteers

Sometimes it’s a matter of looking in the right places and simply asking for help. 

You won’t be asking a lot of them either. They won’t have to fish through every single waste bin at every single hour of the day. As we demonstrated during our study with UCSF, you only need a sample of data that can be collected in a matter of minutes.

In fact, using our customer data, we’ve found that one person can capture data on:

• A trio of bins (slims jims or equivalent) in 46 seconds
• 15 bins on a single floor in just 8 minutes 
• A 4 cu. yard dumpster or ~25 (33 gallon) bags from in under 20 minutes

It can be that simple. By capturing a small sample of data you can identify a trend, make a simple change (rightsizing a bin or putting up a sign or making the case for reuse or informing your purchasing policy) and measure the results to determine success before rolling out your change on a larger scale.

Collecting data should never be the barrier. 

What matters is the decisions you make with the data that you’ve gathered. 

‍Click here if you want to learn how universities use our Zabble Zero Mobile Tagging to collect the data they need and explore insights on our pre-built dashboards.