Smart cities – setting a higher standard for efficiency, cleanliness, and sustainability
Managing waste is a significant challenge for cities worldwide. Total global waste is estimated to reach 3.88 billion tonnes by 2050 as urban populations – and their waste – continue to grow.
Smart cities – setting a higher standard for efficiency, cleanliness, and sustainability
Managing waste is a significant challenge for cities worldwide. Total global waste is estimated to reach 3.88 billion tonnes by 2050 as urban populations – and their waste – continue to grow. Here’s how smart cities are addressing this challenge and making a difference in the health of people and the planet.
Improving quality of life
Reducing resource consumption
Building sustainable and smart cities – more growth, less waste
An ideal smart city uses technology to make traditional services like waste disposal and management more efficient, benefiting residents and businesses. The framework for such a city is guided by several sustainable development goals, particularly SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), which states that waste management, sanitation, and urban planning are all key issues for sustainable urban development.
Modern systems like automated waste collection systems can increase the efficiency of waste management services in dense cities while improving residents’ quality of life, reducing resource consumption, and working with sustainability. These results align with SDG 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
The role of waste management infrastructure in sustainable urban development
Waste collection and management are pivotal considerations in sustainable urban development. They directly impact urban planning, resource allocation, and residents’ quality of life. In smart cities, waste is no longer viewed as a static by-product of consumption but as a dynamic element of the urban economy that can be optimised for both efficiency and sustainability.
Smart waste management uses digital technology – real-time monitoring and data collection – together with physical disposal inlets to manage and reduce waste smartly and effectively. For example, Sejong in South Korea has a truck-free waste management infrastructure in an area that caters to 200,000 households. Sensors placed in outdoor waste inlets track fill levels, and waste is transported in a sealed network of underground pneumatic pipes leading to a central collection point. Unlike traditional waste collection, whose rigid schedules don’t allow operating based on how much waste is produced, smart waste systems can adapt to an area’s needs. This reduces the number of trucks on the road, traffic congestion, noise pollution, and carbon emissions from transport, all of which support the city’s vision to achieve a zero-waste society.
The ability to collect and analyse data helps cities and regions optimise waste collection, resource planning, and service delivery. This level of automation and efficiency is key to conserving resources and minimising environmental impacts, which aligns with the principles of a circular economy. Smart cities support recycling
initiatives by providing users with better access to waste sorting capabilities and ensuring efficient processing of recyclables.
Urban greening and smart waste management go hand in hand
Property developers increasingly recognise the value of integrating green spaces into urban design, both for the benefit of residents and to increase the appeal and value of their properties.
A smart waste management system like the Envac system can be designed not just for utility but also to improve the well-being of inhabitants. Moving waste collection and management underground eliminates the need for above-ground rubbish bins and bulky recycling stations, making more space available for parks, bike lanes, and pedestrian areas. This urban greening improves a city’s aesthetics and enhances quality of life by reducing noise pollution, visual clutter, and the environmental impact of waste collection trucks.
Using digital solutions to support recycling, reducing and reusing
At the core of the smart city lies technical infrastructure that supports the “three R’s”: recycling, reducing, and reusing waste. These practices are fundamental to promoting a circular economy that minimises waste and keeps materials in use for as long as possible.
Smart waste management solutions like Envac’s ReFlow app help achieve these goals by optimising waste collection and disposal and encouraging more sustainable behaviours among citizens. By monitoring waste in real time, ReFlow ensures that waste collection only takes place when necessary, preventing overflow and underutilisation of resources and helping to save labour costs. It also enables municipalities to analyse waste generation patterns, identify improvement areas, and create more targeted recycling initiatives.
On top of this, integrating such digital solutions with other city services, such as energy production from waste, can help close the loop in resource use. Non-recyclable waste, for instance, can be used to produce biogas, district heating, or electricity, helping cities meet their broader sustainability targets.
Want to learn more?
With over 1,200 installations worldwide, Envac has been successfully helping cities tackle the scale of the urban waste problem from the (under)ground up. If you envision a smarter city and want to learn more about a solution that optimises collection at the source, improves the urban environment, and provides a service that runs in any weather condition 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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