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

• US 8,020,767 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2006
• Issued: 09/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casella Waste Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Casella Waste Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Buchanan, Donald S., Reeves, Theodore S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hess; Daniel A
• Assistant Examiner(s): ANDLER, MICHAEL S
• Application Number:
  US11/384,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20070222600A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,009 Days
• Field of Search: 235/384, 235/385
• US Class Current: 235/385
• 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 for monitoring waste at a waste transfer station that includes a scale area and a municipal solid waste (MSW) floor, comprising:

a reader for reading at a scale area;

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 second reader for reading at the MSW floor;

at least one of the second plurality of identifiers associated with one of a plurality of waste receptacles,

a general purpose computer comprising a scale interface 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 within the waste transfer station, wherein the first plurality of values respectively correspond to a weight of material deposited within the MSW floor; 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 within the waste transfer station, wherein the second plurality of values correspond to a weight of material removed from the MSW floor,

vii) 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, wherein the running total is calculated in real time; and

further wherein a running total value of zero indicates that no material is within the MSW floor; and

at least one camera and video recording device configured to capture at least one image of the MSW floor when the running total value is equal to zero.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one image is used to confirm that there is no or substantially no material within the MSW floor when the running total value is equal to zero.

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

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first plurality of values are transmitted from the scale to the data repository using at least one network.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the second plurality of values are transmitted from the scale to the data repository using at least one network.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the general purpose computer utilizes at least one read vehicle identifier associated with the respective waste collection vehicles to track the location of at least one waste collection vehicle.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the scale interface allows data from a scale to be transmitted to the general purpose computer.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the general purpose computer generates an instruction to reuse the respective waste receptacles determined to be substantially empty.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the general purpose computer generates a record of each transaction determining at least one of the first plurality of values and second plurality of values.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a scale located within the MSW floor and electronically configured to transmit the second plurality of values to the data repository.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second plurality of values are transmitted from the scale to the data repository using at least one network.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one scale is an axle scale.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is adapted to track the interchange of the plurality of waste receptacles with an individual vehicle.

16. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium for monitoring a waste at a waste transfer station that includes a scale area and a municipal solid waste (MSW) floor, 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, wherein the vehicle identifiers are read at the scale area;

store a plurality of waste receptacle identifiers associated with a respective plurality of waste receptacles, wherein the waste receptacle identifiers are in at least one of the scale area or the MSW floor;

determine a first plurality of values, at respective times within a MSW floor, representing a weight difference between a respective plurality of non-empty and substantially empty collection vehicles, wherein the first plurality of values respectively correspond to a weight of material deposited within the MSW floor;

determine a second plurality of values, at respective times within the MSW floor, representing a weight difference between a respective plurality of non-empty and substantially empty waste receptacles, wherein the second plurality of values respectively correspond to a weight of material removed from the MSW floor;

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, wherein a running value of zero indicates that no material is within the MSW floor; and

store at least one image of the MSW floor when the running total value is equal to zero.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the plurality of vehicle identifiers are read by a reading device prior to being stored.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the plurality of waste receptacle identifiers are read by a reading device prior to being stored.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising instructions to track the interchange of the plurality of waste receptacles with an individual vehicle.

17. The computer program product 16, wherein the at least one image is used to confirm that there is no or substantially no material within the MSW floor when the running total value is equal to zero.

21. A computer-implemented method for determining a quantity of waste within a waste transfer station that includes a municipal solid waste floor (MSW) floor, 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 MSW floor;

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 municipal solid waste floor 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;

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; and

h) recording and storing at least one image of the MSW floor when the running total of the weight difference in step c) minus the weight difference in step f) is equal to zero.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21 wherein the difference between the first collection vehicle weight and the second collection vehicle weight is electronically transmitted to the data repository.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21 wherein the difference between the second waste receptacle weight and the first waste receptacle weight is electronically transmitted to the data repository.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the at least one image is used to confirm that there is no or substantially no material within the MSW floor when the weight difference in step c) minus the weight difference in step f) is equal to zero.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, 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 MSW floor.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising tracking the interchange of a plurality of waste receptacles with a particular vehicle.