Description of measures

Climate and energy change are the new challenges in urban development. For this reason, the aim of this measure is to develop smart and climate-friendly support for waste disposal that goes beyond the mandatory tasks in cooperation with the public waste management association Abfallwirtschafts-Zweckverband Ostthüringen (AWV). The measure consists of two subject areas.

Improvement in glass collection (household waste)

On the one hand, all white glass containers at collection points for private used glass disposal are to be equipped with optical sensors to measure the fill level. This data will then be made available to citizens and the waste disposal company responsible for collecting the glass in the form of an ERP solution as a knowledge and information base (AWV platform).

This enables the waste disposal company to create an emission-efficient route plan - waste is disposed of exactly where it is needed and is therefore an important prerequisite on the way to CO2 neutrality in waste collection.

Drivers are informed of the optimum route for disposing of the glass containers by means of a mobile application. The impact on traffic, the environment and citizens throughout the city is reduced. The emptying strategy can be checked and adapted.

Citizen waste app

Furthermore, a mobile waste management app is being developed for citizens, which can be used to provide information and services from the AWV digitally. The innovation of this app is the intelligent networking of information. This increases administrative efficiency, transparency and participation for the user. Until now, there have been many isolated solutions in the sector. Citizens are often faced with the question: Where can I find the right information? This app is designed to help with this. Examples

• Report illegal dumping à The responsible authority is informed of the location in conjunction with a photo in order to remedy the situation.
• Glass bin finder with route recommendation
• Information on waste disposal à By specifying the residential property or scanning the residual waste container, all necessary information is provided (emptying days, disposal offers and nearest disposal option).
• Too good to throw away à Network used goods stores, give-away portals,...
• Individual contact with authorities

Container APP

The citizen waste APP being developed here will be an open-source application of the underlying open-source container APP that is also to be developed (container = protected area on the end device). The basic idea of the concept is not to have any content within the APP, but to access content from websites, etc. via interfaces, check it and display it within the APP.

This approach, i.e. the container APP, forms the basis for further SMARTCity Gera measures and application options. For example, it can be used as a cross-sector SMARTCity APP (in planning) and is currently being tested as an overarching mobility APP (connection of providers). Simple hosting and adaptation of the content without programming knowledge is the aim so that it can also be used as an example in smaller municipalities.