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Smart Nation

Coming to a street near you soon: the world’s smartest bin

Case Study

Case Studies | January 2014

Vodafone provides Ecube Labs with Global SIM cards that provide wireless connectivity to the Clean Cube smart bin, helping organisations to manage waste collection more efficiently and keep the streets clean.

M2M- Coming to a street near you soon-the worlds smart

Business Need

Seoul had huge problems in the city, the local authority had cut its residential waste collections, so people were resorting to putting their household rubbish in public bins. Ecube labs came up with the solution: an innovative litter bin that compacts its contents using a solar-powered compressor. With this ingenious technology, the bins can hold up to four times more rubbish before they need to be emptied.

The Solution

Ecube labs had a vision for a truly ‘smart’ bin that can also communicate wirelessly when it needs to be emptied. Using this real-time intelligence, organisation’s and local council’s can plan waste management collections more effectively. They can also cut down on the number of unnecessary collection visits. Most importantly for the citizen, they make sure the bins rarely overflow.

Vodafone provides the Managed IoT Connectivity Platform that enables the Clean Cube bins to communicate and provide real-time status reports to its owners. With connectivity being available worldwide, this reduces the complexity of deployment of service as Ecube Labs expands in to additional countries.

Business Benefits

  • Support for the entrepreneurial spirit: Vodafone has provided Ecube Labs with a flexible financial package that reflects its status as a start up, helping the company to grow and develop without being bound by long term contracts.
  • Highly innovative and efficient: organisations that use the Clean Cube to manage the removal of waste can reduce their workload by as much as 20%.
  • A smarter way of working: smart wireless connectivity means organisations only need to make collection trips when bins are full, reducing both fuel costs and C02 emissions.
  • Ready for international expansion: Vodafone’s extensive Global M2M Network also helps Ecube Labs to achieve international technical certifications and provide reliable coverage around the world.
"If the 5,000 bins around Seoul are replaced with our bins, waste removal will decrease by over 20% within a year and half. This, effectively, is the same as planting 150,000 trees around Seoul by decreasing CO2 emissions from reducing fleet operations for waste removal."

SunBeom Gwon,
CEO and founder, Ecube Labs

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