Dive Brief:

• Data is important to managing trash, and Waste Management is following Enevo's footsteps in the business of selling data software geared for waste. Gathering data is essential to reducing waste and pursuing zero-waste goals, WM global consulting manager Herman Hsuan told a GreenBiz Group webcast. "Data management," he said, allows you to "leave behind ambiguity with respect to waste."
• Nike Inc. is pursuing zero waste by using Enevo software and a Waste Management data intelligence tool to track waste volumes, sorting, and collection at its Oregon headquarters. The sports apparel maker found that most of its dumpsters weren't full when they were serviced, so Nike replaced many with compactors and then consolidated the compacted waste to dumpsters before scheduling recycling and trash collection.
• Carnival Cruise Lines got a handle on the massive amounts of cardboard waste it generates through data analysis, said sustainability manager Sarah Dayboll. Checking the data led to using what Waste Management calls Live Load containers, trucking trailers that are open on the sides so managers can see the kinds of waste — such as clean cardboard or food-contaminated cardboard. For both companies, the goal is reducing costs.

Dive Insight:

Companies in the industry have gotten the message that data improves results. "Ambiguity arises when decisions are made without understanding the whole picture or when the path to success" is opaque, Hsuan said. 

Many big data companies, specifically focused on waste management, are working to optimize big data and integrate it into fleet management across the board. BigBelly of Needham, MA, offers cloud-based software that allows trash haulers to monitor the capacity of their bins. San Francisco-based Compology's "WasteOS" system allows commercial haulers to install hardware into front-load and roll-off containers then evaluate the data using Compology software. Similarly, Enevo has developed a volume-based sensor that uses sonar technology to determine the fullness of a container, then sends information to a dashboard where the data is available for monitoring.  

Enevo's western regional sales manager Christy Hurlburt explained at WASTECON in August that understanding "the 5 Vs" of big data — volume, variety, velocity, value, and veracity — can be instrumental in saving a company money. "We can have smarter cities and smarter organizations," Hurlburt explained.