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Bin bug

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The bin bugs can only be attached to wheelie bins, which not all British households currently possess.

History

At the end of the 80s, the plastic waste bin producer SULO introduced the first system for identifying bins in Germany. They founded Envicomp Systemlogistik GmbH in th early 90’s combining the related technical departments of SULO and DASA.[1] Envicomp introduced the 30mm diameter RFID tag that fitted to a special “tag nest” molded under the lip of the plastic bins produced by Sulo. Balluf was one of the first companies to produce the special 30mm diameter RFID waste bin tag.

Use of RFID for Waste Management

The use of RFID on waste containers has been very much misunderstood, and mistrusted, by the general public. In brief, the RFID tag fulfills the same purpose, and has the same limitations as a number plate on a vehicle. It contains a unique number denoting a particular vehicle (or waste container in this case). It does not have the ability to sense the nature of the load in the vehicle or the bin. The promoters of RFID for waste containers are possibly guilty of over-selling RFID in this application, causing a negative backlash from the public who have been led to believe that these tags will be spying on them. The same public readily accepts that cars must have number plates. In the event of the Refuse Collecting Vehicle(RCV) being equipped with matching RFID readers, the only thing that will be read is: "bin number 01A4F6BC81(example) was emptied now". Anyone else with a matching handheld reader will also be limited to reading the number 01A4F6BC81. Modern RCVs already have trackers logging their GPS position against time and the bin's RFID number is added as a further column of data sent to a central computer for processing. The analysis of the data provides for the waste management aspects[2] which have mistakenly been attributed to RFID per se.

In England

The term "bin bug" was coined in August 2006 by the British media to refer to the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips by some local councils to monitor the amount of domestic waste created by each household. The term bin bug is now obsolete. If the pilot schemes are successful it is expected that most British cities will introduce the system in the next two years.[3][4] Three local councils in England and five Ulster councils have been trialling the scheme.[5]

The system works by having a unique RFID chip for each household's non-recycling wheelie bin (such households have two bins: one for general waste and one recycling bin). The chip is scanned by the dustbin lorry and, as it lifts the bin, records the weight of the contents. This is then stored in a central database that monitors the non-recycled waste output of each household.[3][6]

While some councils informed the householders of their intentions to monitor their waste output many others did not.[3][7] Worcester City Council, for example, detailed their plans through local newspaper Worcester News in August 2005.[8] Aberdeen City Council kept the scheme quiet until a local newspaper ran the story; the council declared no intention to operate or bring the system online but did not rule out future use.[9] Some councillors said that the purpose of the "bin bugs" was to settle disputes about the ownership of the bins, but others mentioned that the system is a trial and means that they are more prepared should the government introduce a household waste tax. The tax would be in the form of a charge for households that exceed set limits of non-recycled waste.[3][7][10] With recycling in the UK amongst the lowest percentage in Europe at 18%, a new tax scheme would have the intention of encouraging domestic recycling and meeting European landfill reduction targets.[4]

Each RFID chip costs around £2, with each scanning system costing around £15,000. The Local Government Association (LGA) provided £5 million to councils to fund 40 pilot schemes.[4] They are supplied by many rival international companies, some examples being Sulo, SMARTRAC,[11] TagPro[12] and Deister Electronic.[3] Some suggest that people who removed the chip might not have their bin emptied.[7]

European Directives

The motivation behind the RFID chips are to monitor the production of landfill waste so that councils can comply with the European Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC. "[1]" The standard regulating RFID tags for the waste industry is EN 14803 Identification and/or determination of the quantity of waste.

In America

Chesapeake, VA supplied recycling bins with RFID tags, so that it could identify residents who were not using the recycling bins. Within one year, recycling tonnage had increased from 4,807 tons in 2009 to 15,447 tons in 2010.[13]

The city of Cleveland, OH with 152 000 households is providing 2 carts per household (waste & recyclables), each cart with an RFID tag.

Charleston County, S.C has set up a pilot program with RFID tags in the waste bins of 5000 households.

Anne Arundel County, MD has made available optional 65gal carts with RFID tags for monitoring recycling[14]

Removing the bug

The RFID tag is located in a recess under the front lip of the bin, either as a self contained unit or behind a plastic cap.[15][16][17]

There is some debate as to the legality of removing the RFID chip.[18]

References

  1. ^ http://www.sulo.com/index.php/en/company/sulo
  2. ^ http://www.iaeng.org/publication/WCE2010/WCE2010_pp29-33.pdf RFID and Integrated Technologies for Solid Waste Bin Monitoring System
  3. ^ a b c d e thisislondon.co.uk. 26 August 2006. "Germans plant bugs in our wheelie bins". Accessed 1 September 2006.
  4. ^ a b c BBC News. 27 August 2006. "Bugged bins to promote recycling". Accessed 5 September 2006.
  5. ^ McBride, Sam. Belfast Telegraph. "Secret chip that checks what you put in your bin". Accessed 5 September 2006.
  6. ^ Mirror.co.uk. 28 August 2006. s/tm_objectid=17638188&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=how-the-bin-bug-works--name_page.html How the bin bug works". Accessed 1 September 2006.
  7. ^ a b c 28 August 2006. "Kennet Bin Bug Secrecy — Council leader "not told of true purpose"". Accessed 1 September 2006.
  8. ^ 31 August 2006. Berrow's Worcester Journal
  9. ^ 31 August 2006 http://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=149235&command=displayContent&sourceNode=149218&contentPK=15298408 Outrage over secret bugs in rubbish bins Accessed 31 August 2006.
  10. ^ Leyden, John. The Register. 29 August 2006. "Wheelie bin bugging foreshadows 'rubbish tax'". Accessed 1 September 2006.
  11. ^ http://www.smartrac-group.com/en/company.php
  12. ^ http://www.tagpro.co.za/
  13. ^ http://waste360.com/radio-frequency-identification-rfid/cutting-back-keeping-track
  14. ^ http://www.aacounty.org/DPW/WasteManagement/RFIDInformation.cfm#.U4xZQGeKCUk
  15. ^ Is your bin bugged?
  16. ^ Removing the Bin Bug[dead link]
  17. ^ Another day...[dead link]
  18. ^ The Great Bin Bug Revolt[dead link]
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