Young innovators from the Warsaw University of Technology (PW) have developed a smart municipal waste collection management system. The solution has been introduced in Sierpc – a town of less than 20,000 inhabitants in the Mazovian Voivodeship. More than 100 sensors measure the filling of waste bins there daily, providing information on the optimal waste collection route.

“The system falls into the broader area of the Internet of Things (IoT), where all devices communicate with each other”, explains Eng. Jerzy Jastrzębiec-Jankowski from the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology at PW. “Initially, we tested cellular technology, but due to the high energy consumption, we decided to use LoRaWAN radio communication, which required us to mount our own antennas on the roofs of several buildings in the city. This allowed us to extend the life of the sensors from three months to three years”, he adds.

The solution was developed and implemented between 2019 and 2022 as part of the project ‘Sierpc 2.0 – EcoSmart solutions for city management’, co-financed from the funds of the Technical Assistance Operational Programme 2014-2020 and the state budget, as part of the competition entitled ‘HUMAN SMART CITIES. Smart cities co-created by citizens”.