Greek RFID Pilot Collects Garbage

The tag data was collected by the reader and sent, via a Bluetooth connection, to a Qtek S200 PDA mobile phone inside the truck. This phone used a GPRS communications link to upload the tag data to a server operated by the municipality, along with a time stamp for when each tag was read. The server utilized software written by CAT Hellas using Microsoft’s .Net platform and the Delphi programming language. This software processed the tag data, comparing each tag ID to a database and generating a list of addresses where bins had been emptied—and when.

“The municipality can use this data to optimize route and vehicle schedules,” says Mikos Pesmatzoglou, CEO of CAT Hellas, because the system shows how long it takes for a given truck to complete a specific route. In addition, he says, the system can also provide the municipality a means of tracking the productivity of its garbage collectors.

For the pilot, 15 garbage bins used by residents and businesses in the city were tagged with an RFID tag mounted near the base of the bin.

By the end of February, Pesmatzoglou says he expects the municipality to provide CAT Hellas with its decision on whether to equip all trucks and garbage bins with RFID. In a statement issued by CAEN RFID, Aspropyrgos’ mayor, George Liakos, said the city was happy with the information the pilot application had provided, and that it could use that data to improve its garbage-collection services overall. Pesmatzoglou would not reveal the cost of the pilot program or the estimated cost of a permanent deployment, saying only that the RFID equipment deployed for the pilot is still in use today.

Having designed the Aspropyrgos RFID deployment and developed the software used to capture and process the tag data, CAT Hellas is now interested in deploying the same system for other Greek municipalities. According to Pesmatzoglou, the company is talking to several cities about potential pilot tests.

Not all those cities, however, are interested in using a GPRS link and collecting the productivity data in real time. For some, he explains, the tag data would be downloaded from the PDAs once the trucks return to their home bases after completing their routes.