Digital Tools for Waste Collection: The "Popelka" System

In 2023, every Czech resident produced 537 kilograms of municipal waste. More than half of it was successfully utilized, with 14 percent used for energy recovery. The remaining 42 percent ended up in landfills. However, landfilling will soon become obsolete, and Nerudová's question "where to put it" is becoming increasingly pressing when it comes to waste. Experts from the Institute of Process Engineering at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Brno University of Technology are helping with solutions.

Their latest tool is called Popelka. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the work of collection companies that haul waste, but more efficient collection will ultimately save money for municipalities and citizens. The foundation for planning and efficient waste management is data, which companies and municipalities have not been collecting sufficiently so far, or are just learning to do so.

Many things are still done the old way. "About three years ago, we were looking for data from collection companies and found that smaller collection firms plan routes either manually on paper or in Excel spreadsheets. With growing pressure to sort more types of waste, they are no longer able to cope. Try planning on paper a combination of ten vehicles and fifty municipalities with six types of waste with different collection frequencies," explains Radovan Šomplák, head of the research team at the Institute of Process Engineering.

This is why the online tool Popelka began to be developed to make collection planning easier. "Users define their collection network: where containers and bins are located, their volume, what type of waste they are intended for, how often they should be emptied. Collection frequency can vary even within a municipality - for example, recreational properties are typically serviced less frequently than residential buildings or businesses. At the same time, users enter their vehicle fleet - what collection vehicles they have, with what technology, capacity, for what type of waste. Drivers and crews can also be assigned directly," describes researcher Vlastimír Nevrlý about the system's functionalities.

Popelka then calculates the optimal route including an estimate of how long it will take to service a given municipality. It recommends the nearest end facility where the given type of waste is stored or processed. And it plans a collection schedule for the given area for an entire year in advance. "Ideally, the mayor then receives this calendar from the collection company, showing collection days for each type of waste. The calendars can then be distributed to all citizens so they know when to put which bin in front of their house," says Nevrlý.

Among the first to test the system are the city of Příbram and the Malá Haná region. The local technical services are already working with BUT on setting up Popelka and gradually testing it in operation. The system is best prepared for smaller towns and municipalities. "The collection services we primarily target are rather smaller ones, with five to twenty vehicles, serving for example a district town and its surroundings. Popelka would in principle be usable for large cities like Prague and Brno, but it is primarily meant to help make inter-municipal waste collection more efficient. To put it simply, in a big city you can always find enough waste to fill a truck and go again. In smaller municipalities, more transit kilometers are driven, so better planning means greater savings," says Šomplák.

Real Waste in the Digital Age

Experts from the Institute of Process Engineering point out that while trends in waste management are clear, tools to handle them are still missing. Legislation places and will place increasingly greater demands on waste producers. The 2020 Waste Act sets limits for municipal waste separation rates: this year we should be able to sort 55 percent, in 2030 already 60 percent, and five years later another five percent more. Anything above the limit will be subject to fees that will ultimately fall on waste producers - municipalities and, by extension, citizens. "That's precisely why we think the time is approaching when every mayor will monitor this area much more closely," warns Šomplák, noting that many municipalities are already gradually introducing chip tagging and automatic weighing of bins.

After the first collection services begin using the system and researchers fine-tune its operation, they want to direct energy toward improving Popelka with new features. And also toward expanding it among customers. This is why they became partners with the Association of Municipal Services, whose members also include dozens of collection companies. And they plan to present their system abroad as well. However, as they admit, for the Czech Republic to meet its sorting commitments, the entire waste management system will have to seriously step on the gas.

The Institute of Process Engineering has been dealing with waste-related issues for a long time. In January 2023, its experts presented the TiramisO application for forecasting waste production, and they also helped the Ministry of the Environment create the Czech Republic's Waste Management Plan for the next decade. "We try to involve students from various fields in development, as this is a multidisciplinary problem. The truth is that in such complex tasks, an individual can accomplish virtually nothing," concludes Šomplák.