Since late October 2017 there have been two smart, sustainable waste containers on the University of Twente campus that were part of a pilot project: the manufacturer, ESE B.V., was finding out over the last few months whether these Clean Cubes worked well, and how they could be improved.
Next Wednesday, 20 June, the pilot comes to an end and the cubes will be taken away. ESE thanks staff and students for their help. But what happens next?
A quick reminder: the Clean Cubes accepted PMD (Plastic, Metal and Drinks carton) waste and general waste. The innovative aspect of these containers was mostly inside, where a press compacted the contents to maximize capacity and a gauge automated a request for emptying only when the container was completely full: a much more efficient and environmentally-friendly approach. The Cubes were also vandal-proof, thanks to heat sensors, and they used solar panels to generate part of their own power requirements.
Evaluation
The Clean Cubes are still under development, and this is why the company regarded the collaboration with the University of Twente as being so valuable. Working together, the university and ESE used this pilot to examine how waste collection on campus could be improved still further. Having collected data via software built into the Clean Cubes and an app, it was observed that users and waste collection service staff alike were pleased with the containers’ user-friendliness. The Cubes’ software, technology and capacity were all definite assets. However, the Clean Cubes still used too much (non-sustainably produced) electricity. Over the coming months ESE will therefore be working on a Clean Cube 2.0 that uses less electricity, for instance by making greater use of the containers’ solar panels.
Clean Cube 2.0
ESE is taking the Clean Cubes back to the drawing board, and the company plans to present the updated version in early 2019. Given its satisfactory and productive collaboration with the University of Twente, ESE will once again make the Cubes available to the university for a new pilot. We will let you know when this happens via the intranet.
