A company that specialises in vehicle-tracking systems for trucks transporting goods is now offering its expertise to set up integrated solid waste management-monitoring systems. The company, Arya Omnitalk, part of the Arvind Group, can monitor real-time movement of garbage trucks from bins to the final point of delivery — the dumping yard, through its trackers placed in the vehicles. The system is programmed such that it can even record if a bin, en route , has been missed.

“Thanks to RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology and the GPS vehicle tracking system, it is impossible for the garbage collector to avoid even one bin where it is scheduled to make a stop,” says Vipen Malhotra, president of the company.

The solid waste management system put together by Omnitalk for cities is a comprehensive package that includes the identifying points in every locality for a door-to-door pick-up, creation of zones, wards and transfer stations as well as dumping yards — through geo-fencing, RFID tags for trucks, as well as dust bins.

This, along with a monitoring system that has an interface with cameras, RFID readers and weigh bridges, records the number of the vehicle that comes in, locations from which it picked up refuse and the weight of the garbage that it has brought with it.

This, says Malhotra, when installed along with penalty provisions and billing done on the basis of efficiency and number of trips taken by the garbage collection vendor, keeps the collection team on alert and streamlines the system.

He gives the example of the Surat Municipal Corporation where the company claims to have set up a system that is working seamlessly. Here, around 4,000 garbage collection bins are cleared using this method. Malhotra feels that such a remote monitoring system brings the activity undertaken to the table without the need for extensive supervision, as the figures speak for themselves. Further, when it is linked to defined penalties and part of the payment to the vendor depends on the weight of the garbage collected, efficiencies increase automatically.

GPS tracking, a sunrise industry

Malhotra is now busy bidding for several more solid waste management projects and feels that it is only technology and mechanisation that can bring transparency and accountability in garbage collection. He says GPS tracking is a sunrise industry with a promising future. And 5 million trucks in the country are waiting to be fitted with such systems to enhance efficient delivery of every kind.

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