Mobility Helps City Improve Recycling Program

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

Communities across the country have been searching for ways to increase participation in recycling programs while simultaneously reducing the amount of waste they have to deposit in landfills. Reducing the need for landfill space not only helps the environment, but also reduces costs since comm unities have to pay for every truckload of garbage that goes to the landfill.

Some larger cities have rolled out systems that use mobile computers and even RFID tags to help manage recycling programs. Now, these high-tech solutions are within the reach of smaller communities as well. Kings Mountain, NC, a community of 11,000, just west of Charlotte, recently rolled out a mobile computing and RFID system that has boosted recycling participation while lowering landfill costs.