Systems and methods for monitoring a quantity of waste in a waste transfer station environment

• US 20070222600A1
• Filed: 03/21/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casella Waste Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Casella Waste Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Reeves, Theodore, Buchanan, Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,020,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.400
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for monitoring a quantity of waste in a waste transfer station environment. Embodiments of the invention maintain a running total of waste deposited within the waste transfer station by automating the process of recording the weights of vehicles depositing and removing waste from the waste transfer station.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a reader for reading;

i) a first plurality of identifiers, each of the first plurality of identifiers storing a vehicle identifier associated with a respective plurality of waste collection vehicles;

ii) a second plurality of identifiers, each of the second plurality of identifiers storing a waste receptacle identifier associated with a respective plurality of waste receptacles;

a general purpose computer utilizing a data repository that stores;

iii) the read vehicle identifier associated with respective waste collection vehicles;

iv) the read waste receptacle identifier associated with respective waste receptacles;

v) a first plurality of values representing a weight difference, between a respective plurality of non-empty and substantially empty waste collection vehicles, at respective times; and

vi) a second plurality of values representing a weight difference, between a respective plurality of substantially non-empty and substantially empty waste receptacles, at respective times, the computer maintaining a running total by utilizing the weight differences at the respective times, in a time sequenced manner, to add each of the first plurality of values and subtract each of the second plurality of values from the first plurality of values.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first plurality of values respectively correspond to a weight of material deposited within a predetermined area;

the second plurality of values respectively correspond to a weight of material removed from the predetermined area; and

a running total value of zero indicates that no material is within the predetermined area.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising at least one of a camera and a video recording device configured to capture at least one image of the predetermined area when the running total value is equal to zero.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at one image is used to confirm that there is no or substantially no material within the predetermined area when the running total value is equal to zero.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a scale electronically configured to transmit the first plurality of values and the second plurality of values to the data repository.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first plurality of values are transmitted from the scale to the data repository using at least one network.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the second plurality of values are transmitted from the scale to the data repository using at least one network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of identifiers comprise at least one of a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag and a bar code.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the second plurality of identifiers comprise at least one of a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag and a bar code.

10. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

store a plurality of vehicle identifiers associated with a respective plurality of collection vehicles;

store a plurality of waste receptacle identifiers associated with a respective plurality of waste receptacles;

determine a first plurality of values, at respective times, representing the difference between a respective plurality of non-empty and substantially empty collection vehicles;

determine a second plurality of values, at respective times, representing the difference between a respective plurality of non-empty and substantially empty waste receptacles; and

utilize the respective times in a time sequenced manner to determine a running total by adding each of the first plurality of values and subtracting each of the second plurality of values from the first plurality of values.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein:

the first plurality of values respectively correspond to a weight of material deposited within a predetermined area;

the second plurality of values respectively correspond to a weight of material removed from the predetermined area; and

a running value of zero indicates that no material is within the predetermined area.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising instructions that store at least one image of the predetermined area when the running total value is equal to zero.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the plurality of vehicle identifiers are read by a reading device prior to being stored.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the plurality of waste receptacle identifiers are read by a reading device prior to being stored.

13. The computer program product 12, wherein the at one image is used to confirm that there is no or substantially no material within the predetermined area when the running total value is equal to zero.

16. A computer-implemented method for determining a quantity of waste within a predetermined area, comprising:

a) storing at a first time a first collection vehicle weight and a collection vehicle identifier in a data repository;

b) depositing a waste content of the collection vehicle within the predetermined area;

c) storing in the data repository at a second time a difference between the first collection vehicle weight and a second collection vehicle weight determined subsequent to step b);

d) storing at a third time a first waste receptacle weight and a waste receptacle identifier in the data repository;

e) depositing waste content within the predetermined area into the waste receptacle;

f) storing in the data repository at a fourth time a difference between a second waste receptacle weight determined subsequent to step e) and the first waste receptacle weight; and

g) repeating steps a)-c) and steps d)-f) until a time-sequenced running total of the weight difference in step c) minus the weight difference in step f) is equal to zero.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 wherein the difference between the first collection vehicle weight and the second collection vehicle weight is electronically transmitted to the data repository.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 wherein the difference between the second waste receptacle weight and the first waste receptacle weight is electronically transmitted to the data repository.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising recording and storing at least one image of the predetermined area when the running total of the weight difference in step c) minus the weight difference in step f) is equal to zero.

20. The computer-implemented of claim 19, wherein the at least one image is used to confirm that there is no or substantially no material within the predetermined area when the weight difference in step c) minus the weight difference in step f) is equal to zero.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising using a difference between the fourth time and the third time to determine a length of time that waste receptacle has been in the vicinity of the predetermined area.