Vienna School relies on SLOC Waste Bin

Two students of the HBLVA17 in the Rosensteingasse in Vienna set themselves the goal to measure the fill levels in their residual waste containers within the scope of a diploma thesis. They decided to use the SLOC Waste Bin to obtain data such as fill level, lid openings, lid position, temperature and emptying.

From left to right: Mr. DI Dr. Winfried Nischkauer (thesis supervisor), Mr. Dino Malikic (student and author of the thesis), Mr. DI Dr. Martin Letschnig (Head of Department Applied Technologies and Environmental Management), Mrs. HR Ing. Mag. Dr. Annemarie Karglmayer ( Principal of HBLVA 17)

The Project

HBLVA17 has been EMAS certified since 2017, which is why the residual waste has to be collected. In the past, the fill level of the containers was estimated with the help of a broom in 25% increments. During an observation period of four weeks, one student had to estimate the container stock by hand every day. The problem, besides the inaccurate estimation, was that the measurement was not always possible, since the garbage was often already picked up by the disposal company. From the collected estimation data, the average filling quantity was collected, which in turn was added up to the year.

The estimated values for the last six years tended to be higher than the values measured with the SLOC devices.

Additional benefits with the SLOC Devices

The smart SLOC devices not only measure the fill level, but also provide additional data such as lid openings, lid positions and collection intervals. In the weekly overview, the students recognized that more residual waste tends to be generated on Wednesdays and Fridays. In the daily overview, an increased volume of waste can be seen in the period between 4 and 9 pm.

A look into the future

With the help of the SLOC devices, the students received exact data on their residual waste containers. Now they also want to take action from it: In general, they want to increase awareness of proper waste separation. The tests showed that plastic bottles often end up in the residual waste, which means that a lot of space is taken up by air in particular. This results in more full trash containers and thus more emptying. Another observation made during the thesis is that trash in classrooms is collected in bags and then disposed of in the dumpster. This again takes up quite a bit of space. An alternative is already being worked on.

At the beginning of the year, HBLVA17 will get another sensor to continue the observation and subsequently take further measures.