Amsterdam tries out garbage collection akin to parcel delivery system

It involves indicating a pickup time for waste collection through an app

In a bid to stay ahead of the constantly mounting garbage, Amsterdam’s municipal waste collection service has decided to run a pilot project involving waste collection via cargo bikes. Apart from this analogue, old-school element, there’s also a digital component as the residents can indicate on an app when their trash is ready for pick-up.

The trial run is taking place in one of the picturesque central districts called Negen Straatjies, where residents on one side of the canal receive the traditional waste collection service with set days for emptying the street containers, and on the other side, people benefit from the personalized pickup.

It might seem like an expensive and labour-intensive way to deal with domestic waste, but, according to Centrum borough council, it is working well. There is already a drop in the number of complaints regarding street trash accumulation and torn bags.

Fusion of manual and digital services

What’s more, it’s an efficient and convenient way to deliver that kind of public service in the narrow streets of the historic core. Unlike most of Amsterdam, the city centre does not have underground containers where people can deposit their waste directly.

Having your trash collection service arranged on-demand through an app is also reminiscent of the way many modern urban services, such as food and parcel deliveries work. And the system has a smart component as it calculates the most optimal route for the cargo bike riders based on the placed requests.

Once the bags are loaded onto the cargo bike, the employee takes them to a waste barge on the Sinel canal. From there the household garbage gets shipped to the waste disposal plant in the docks.

The experiment in the Negen Straatjes district will run until 2025.