Waste processing system and method

• US 20020147502A1
• Filed: 07/09/2001
• Published: 10/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Heritage Interactive Services LLC
• Original Assignee: Heritage Interactive Services LLC
• Inventors: Price, Kenneth S., Swift, Maria R., Walker, Brian L., Buckner, David S., Pettit, Steven E., McDaniel, William J., Phillips, Henry L., Bowser, Roger D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,455 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/30 Administration of product recycling or disposal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

A waste processing system (10) evaluates the waste processing requirements of a waste producing entity (20, 30) and evaluates the waste processing capabilities of vendors (40, 60, 80), and manages the waste processing of waste components produced by a waste producing entity (20, 30) by selecting vendors (40, 60, 80) to service the waste producing entity (20, 30).

Claims

1. A waste management method for managing the processing of waste components produced by a waste producing entity, the method comprising the steps of:

evaluating waste processing requirements of a waste producing entity;

evaluating waste processing capabilities of a plurality of vendors;

comparing the waste processing capabilities of each of the plurality vendors to the waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity; and

selecting a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity, the selection based on the comparing step.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of minimizing the waste components produced by the waste producing entity.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity; and

reevaluating waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity based on changes in the waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the waste management service performance of each vendor of the plurality of vendors; and

reevaluating the waste processing capabilities of a vendor of the plurality of vendors based on the performance of the vendor.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

selecting a preferred vendor from the set of vendors for a waste processing requirement of the waste processing entity;

requesting the preferred vendor to provide waste management service for the waste processing requirement of the waste producing entity; and

requesting at least one of the other vendors from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste processing requirement of the waste producing entity if the preferred vendor does not provide waste management service for the waste processing requirement of the waste producing entity.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing waste processing data relating to the waste management services provided by the set of vendors to the waste producing entity.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of generating a consolidated financial statement based on the processing data relating to the waste management services provided by the set of vendors to the waste producing entity.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

storing regulatory information related to the waste processing requirements and waste components produced by the waste producing entity; and

generating regulatory reports based on the regulatory information and waste processing data associated with the waste producing entity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of evaluating the waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity comprises the steps of:

monitoring the waste components produced by the waste producing entity to determine when the waste producing entity requires waste management service; and

requesting a first vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity when the waste producing entity requires waste management service.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of minimizing a processing cost of the waste components produced by the waste producing entity.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity; and

reevaluating waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity based on changes in the waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising means for monitoring the waste processing requirements data of the waste producing entity.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising means for monitoring the waste management service performance of each vendor of the plurality of vendors.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

means for selecting a preferred vendor from the set of vendors for a selected waste management service;

means for requesting the preferred vendor to provide the selected waste management service for the waste producing entity; and

means for requesting at least one of the other vendors from the set of vendors to provide the selected waste management service for the waste producing entity if the preferred vendor does not provide the selected waste management service for the waste producing entity.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising the means for storing waste processing data relating to the waste management services provided by the set of vendors to the waste producing entity.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising means for generating a consolidated financial statement relating to the waste management services provided by the set of vendors to the waste producing entity.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for storing regulatory information related to the waste processing requirements and waste components produced by the waste producing entity; and

means for generating regulatory reports based on the regulatory information and waste processing data associated with the waste producing entity.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

means for monitoring the waste components produced by the waste producing entity to determine when the waste producing entity requires waste management service; and

means for requesting a first vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity when the waste producing entity requires waste management service.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising means for withdrawing the request from the first vendor if the first vendor does not respond within a period of time;

and

means for requesting a second vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity when the waste producing entity requires waste management service.

10. The method of step 9, further comprising the steps of:

withdrawing the request from the first vendor if the first vendor does not respond within a period of time; and

requesting a second vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity when the waste producing entity requires waste management service.

13. A waste management system for managing the processing of waste components produced by a waste producing entity, the system comprising:

means for storing waste processing requirements data of the waste producing entity;

means for storing waste processing capabilities data for a plurality of vendors;

means for comparing the waste processing capabilities data of each of the plurality vendors to the waste processing requirements data of the waste producing entity; and

means for selecting a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity based on a comparison by the comparing means.

22. A waste management system, comprising:

a computer storage medium storing waste management data associated with a plurality of vendors having waste management capabilities and providing waste management services and entity profile data associated with a plurality of waste producing entities having waste processing requirements and producing waste components; and

a first computer system configured to access the computer storage medium and stored waste management data and entity profile data, and further configured to associate a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a second computer system configured to transmit to and receive information from the first computer system, the second computer system configured to provide an interface wherein the waste producing entity inputs and receives data associated with the waste processing of waste components produced by the waste producing entity.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a plurality of third computer systems, each of the third computer systems configured to transmit to and receive information from the first computer system, each of the third computer systems corresponding to each of the vendors, and configured to provide an interface wherein each of the vendors inputs and receives data associated with the waste processing of waste components produced by the waste producing entity.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein a waste service network includes the plurality of vendors, and wherein the waste producing entity inputs a waste processing service order into the second computer system, and wherein the first computer system is further configured to receive the waste processing service order from the second computer system and provide the waste processing service order to one of the third computer systems corresponding to one of the vendors associated with the set of vendors.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the set of vendors from the plurality of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity is determined by comparing the waste management data to the entity profile data and selecting a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity based on the comparison.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the first computer system is further configured to store waste component processing data associated with the waste components of the waste producing entity processed by the vendors.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the second computer system is further configured to generate reports relating to the waste processing of the waste components produced by the waste producing entity.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the first computer system is further configured to store regulatory data relating to waste processing and waste components, and wherein the second computer system is further configured to generate regulatory reports relating to the waste processing of the waste components produced by the waste producing entity.

30. The system of claim 24, further comprising:

a sensor located at the waste producing entity, the sensor monitoring a waste component and generating monitoring data indicating when the waste producing entity requires waste management service;

wherein the first computer system is configured to receive the monitoring data and place a service request to a first vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity when the monitoring data indicates the waste producing entity requires waste management service.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the first computer system is further configured to withdrawing the request from the first vendor if the first vendor does not respond within a period of time and further configured to place a service request to a second vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity when the monitoring data indicates the waste producing entity requires waste management service.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein the entity profile data includes a plurality of items, each item corresponding to a waste processing requirement of the waste producing entity.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the first computer system is configured to associate a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors to provide waste management service for the waste producing entity for each item.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the first computer system is configured to receive a service request for an item from the waste producing entity, and place a service request to a first vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the item.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the first computer system is further configured to withdrawing the request from the first vendor if the first vendor does not respond within a period of time and place a service request to a second vendor from the set of vendors to provide waste management service for the item.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the first computer system is further configured to store waste component processing data associated with the waste components of the waste producing entity processed by the vendors.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the first computer system is further configured generate a consolidated financial statement relating to the waste management services provided by the vendors to the waste producing entity.

38. The system of claim 27, wherein the first computer system is further configured generate a consolidated financial statement relating to the waste management services provided by the vendors to the waste producing entity.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising the steps of:

evaluating the performance of each of the waste processing vendors in the service network; and

reevaluating the waste processing capabilities of a vendor in the service network based on the performance of the vendor.

41. The method of claim 39, further comprising the steps of:

evaluating waste processing requirements of a waste producing entity;

minimizing the waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity; and

selecting a preferred set of vendors from the service network to provide service to the waste producing entity based on the minimized waste processing requirements of the waste producing entity.

42. The method of claim 39, further comprising the steps of:

evaluating waste processing requirements of a waste producing entity;

minimizing the waste processing costs of the waste producing entity; and

selecting a preferred set of vendors from the service network to provide service to the waste producing entity based on the minimized waste processing costs of the waste producing entity.

39. A waste management method, the method comprising the steps of:

creating a service network including a plurality of waste processing vendors;

evaluating the waste processing capabilities of each of the waste processing vendors in the service network;

receiving a waste processing service request from a waste producing entity;

comparing the waste processing service request to the capabilities of the waste processing vendors in the service network; and

selecting a vendor from the service network to fulfill the waste processing service request.

43. A waste management system, comprising:

a computer storage medium storing waste management entity profile data associated with a plurality of waste producing entities having waste processing requirements and producing waste components; and

a first computer system configured to access the computer storage medium and entity profile data, and further configured to associate a set of items for each of the plurality of waste producing entities, wherein each of the items is associated with the entity profile data.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein at least one of the items includes wastestream data associated with the entity profile data.

45. The system of claim 43, further comprising a second computer system configured to transmit to and receive information from the first computer system, the second computer system configured to provide an interface wherein the waste producing entity inputs and receives data associated with the set of items associated with the waste producing entity.

46. The system of claim 44, wherein the computer storage medium further includes data associated with a plurality of vendors having waste management capabilities and providing waste management services, and wherein the first computer system is further configured to access the waste management data and associate a set of vendors from the plurality of vendors with the set of items.

47. The system of claim 46, further comprising a plurality of third computer systems, each of the third computer systems configured to transmit to and receive information from the first computer system, each of the third computer systems corresponding to each of the vendors, and configured to provide an interface wherein each of the vendors inputs and receives data associated with the waste processing of waste components produced by the waste producing entity.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the set of vendors from the plurality of vendors is determined by comparing the waste management data to the entity profile data.