Waste management companies are addressing safety, efficiency, and maintenance challenges with artificial intelligence technologies. A Waste Connections garbage truck driver was making his rounds in a quiet neighborhood. He got out of his front-loading truck, picked up a few trash barrels, emptied them into the truck, and put them back in place before getting into his truck for the next stop.
The same routine continued house after house, community after community. He wrapped up his work at an apartment complex and needed to back up the truck. As he was climbing into the driver’s seat, his eye seemed to catch some slight movement in the rearview mirror. With nothing visible in his line of sight, he dismissed it as a trick of the light and prepared to drive off.
However, he had a nagging feeling that something was amiss. Acting on intuition, he got out of the truck and walked to the back of it to inspect. What he saw sent a chill down his spine.
A small girl was hiding quietly between the huge truck’s rear tires. While the driver was still in a state of shock, she hushed him to stay quiet. The girl whispered that she was playing hide-and-seek with her friends and didn’t want the driver to give away her location.
Thanks to the alert driver’s instinct, a disaster was narrowly averted, and the driver had a story to tell that quickly spread within the company.
I heard this anecdote narrated by Eric Hansen, CIO of Waste Connections, in a panel discussion at the recent WasteExpo. Such high-risk safety incidents are not uncommon in the industry; unfortunately, many don’t have such a happy ending.
Few people give a second thought to the garbage trucks that rumble through neighborhoods week after week, collecting our refuse. But behind the scenes, waste management companies face complex hurdles, including safety concerns, routing challenges, and maintenance failures.
The use of artificial intelligence tools designed to help companies shape a smoother and more efficient waste collection process offers an informative study on how AI can adjust safety and cost equations in certain industries. Let’s examine how AI is changing the waste management industry, drawing from real-world examples and industry statistics.
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