City council voted to spend $200,000 on establishing a system of tracking devices for residential garbage bins on Monday night.
The tracking system, known as a radio frequency identification system, will involve installing radio identifiers on approximately 23,000 residential waste bins throughout the city. City staff said the system will help track down stolen waste bins, but might also allow city staff to track how well residents are sorting their waste. The system will also connect each bin to a specific residential location and to a specific collection truck. A video system will monitor the contents each time bins are emptied into the truck.
Gina Layte Liston, director of public works for the city, told council the system has been used in 18 other municipalities in B.C. She said the system will save residents the cost of replacing stolen receptacles.
"There are a number of times during the year that cans go missing and the residents call. If they have to get a new can, they have to pay for that can," Layte Liston said.
Layte Liston acknowledged the tracking system may also have applications for enforcement of waste separation, but said no plans are in place in the immediate term.
"Each time (a bin) is lifted by the truck there will be a video system set up that we can determine what items are actually going into the truck. So if we get to a point where we're looking at some more enforcement of recycling or organics, that can be a piece for that," she said.
The city of Kelowna has been using a similar tracking system for several years. A 2010 memo written by that city's utility services manager stated that each time a cart is tipped in the Central Okanagan, onboard computers collect data which is then transmitted wirelessly to a web-based server. At each stop, the system records whether a garbage, recycling or yard waste cart is tipped, the cart's 'owner,' their address and the date and time the cart was collected.
"For the most part, it's been great," said Paul Turgeon, the office manager for O.K. Environmental Waste Systems, which provides garbage, recycling and yard waste collection for the City of Kelowna.
Turgeon said the system has allowed staff to monitor where collection trucks are throughout the region at all times.
Layte Liston said the data collected from the radio frequency identification system will inform a waste characterization study for Prince George, which will guide future waste management policy.
