Case
Data-driven recycling rooms eliminate unnecessary transports
By digitalising and automating pickup flows from properties’ recycling rooms, unnecessary transports can be eliminated. Semcon has supported Office Recycling in the development of Wayoo, a new solution and standard for waste management in and around properties. Wayoo makes it possible to go from scheduled retrieval logistics to a solution in which recycling is picked up “just in time”.
CustomerWayoo
IndustryIndustry
CompetencesStrategic Business DesignDesign & User ExperienceProduct Development
Background
Semcon supported Office Recycling with innovation workshops early in the product development process to realise their vision. One of Semcon’s teams of industrial designers then helped to develop an initial prototype of a digitally connected recycling room. Using this prototype, Office Recycling was able to test the solution and make improvements along the way. The results of this work led to Office Recycling’s new concept , which is a data-driven and automated solution for waste management in and around properties – the first of its type to be offered on the market.
Office Recycling helps offices, restaurants, shops, and commercial and residential properties with products and services for recycling.A study conducted by the company in 2022, in collaboration with universities, experts, and real estate companies, exposed the challenges faced by property owners in relation to waste management. And these challenges are not only about how full the waste bins are:
85 per cent of containers in recycling rooms are picked up at the wrong time. Half of the containers are picked up too early.
Companies often pay too much for their waste management because the pickups are done at the wrong time through manual processes.
Nearly 90 per cent of tenants want better sorting options.
There is rubbish on the floor in more than half of visits to recycling rooms and many tenants report dissatisfaction with the level of cleanliness.
The solution
Using a self-designed, user-friendly module system combined with sensors, the fill levels of the containers are measured in real time. The statistics are stored in the Wayoo platform and, together, these components form the foundation that enables recycling services to be automated and performed at exactly the right time. The data on waste also creates valuable supporting data for sustainability reporting, optimisation of waste management strategies, and measurements of Scope 3 emissions.
Wayoo’s solutions have numerous benefits: lowered waste management costs, accurate real-time data, and better order in the recycling rooms with more efficient logistics. Customers subscribe to the service and Wayoo handles all operation, maintenance, and installation.
"Wayoo’s innovative combination of software, hardware, and recycling services offer not only financial benefits for property owners, but also more convenient and efficient everyday life in the properties. We also significantly reduce the number of transports, which brings us one step closer to a greener future."
- Dino Eklöf, CEO, Office Recycling
User in focus
Hardware and sensors aren’t enough to simultaneously reduce the number of transports and get more people to recycle through more efficient and cleaner recycling rooms. You also have to understand human needs and behaviours. How do people behave in these rooms? How do we get data collection and user friendliness to go hand in hand? This is something that Semcon assisted with in the project.
Semcon’s deliveries in the project:
Innovation workshops
Industrial design & concept development for containers and waste management rooms for different environments and applications
Technical solution concepts for containers and waste management rooms (especially connected monitoring of fill levels and compaction)
Road maps for further product development
Design and production of supporting data for prototypes to test the service in the field
Procurement and support in relation to manufacturers during prototype manufacturing
