That's a great question! Our smart trash cans use a clever combination of hardware and software to keep city operations informed. Inside each bin, an ultrasonic or infrared sensor acts like a measuring tape, constantly checking the fill level. This data is processed by a small, onboard computer.
For transmission, the cans primarily use low-power, wide-area networks (LPWAN) like LoRaWAN or NB-IoT. These networks are perfect for IoT devices because they send small packets of data over long distances while using very little battery power. In some deployments, they might also connect via cellular networks (4G/5G) or even city-wide Wi-Fi.
Typically, the device sends a data packet—containing the bin's unique ID, fill percentage, and sometimes temperature—at scheduled intervals (e.g., every few hours) or immediately when it reaches a critical fill threshold. This data travels wirelessly to a cloud-based management platform. There, it's analyzed and displayed on a dashboard for waste management teams. This allows them to see real-time bin status across the city, optimize collection truck routes to only service full bins, reduce fuel costs, and prevent overflow. It's a seamless flow of information from the street to the cloud, making waste collection smarter and more efficient.