Since July 2020, the 200 skips collecting the waste deposited by Toulouse residents in the 13 waste collection centres managed by SUEZ have been equipped with on-board intelligence. The ffly4u solution, which has been in test since 2019, has been deployed with the aim of reducing fuel consumption, optimising the flow of skips and reducing costs by optimising collection resources.

The partnership between ffly4u and SUEZ began at the end of 2019 with the implementation of an experiment on a waste collection centre and about ten skips. On the strength of this success, SUEZ and Decoset^[1] deployed the ffly4u solution in July 2020 in the 13 waste collection centers in Toulouse. Thanks to the connected boxes placed on the bins, SUEZ has real-time visibility on the filling rate of the bins, their location on and off the quay, both within the waste collection centres and in transit. The operational teams know precisely the loading and unloading phases of the skips, i.e. skips on trucks or on the ground, and are alerted in the event of prolonged immobilisation. In a highly urbanized area that attracts more than 10,000 new inhabitants every year, digitalization optimizes the planning, filling and transport of the skips, thereby reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to waste transport by 5%.

A unique technology in Europe

The ffly4u innovation is based on the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies in a low-energy consumption box (4 to 6 years of box autonomy). This solution called “Edge AI Low Power®”, launched in 2018 by ffly4u, allows the precise identification of the life phases of industrial objects in the recycling sector but also in the cable/fiber, trailer, reusable packaging and aeronautics sectors.

Jean-Christophe Didio, Regional Director of Recycling & Recovery at SUEZ: “SUEZ is developing innovative solutions to capture more recoverable waste, continuously optimise collection performance and reduce its environmental impact. The ffly4u solution, which has been successfully tested in the Toulouse region, is an important contribution to the digitalisation of our businesses. The SUEZ Group and the ffly4u team are in discussion to extend this solution to other territories”.

Rodolphe Henry, Sales Director Europe of ffly4u This project with the SUEZ Group proves the added value of our approach and marks a real awareness, on the part of our customers and principals, of the significant value creation potential of our services. Today, the observation is clear: raw data feedback from elementary sensors, such as location or temperature, is no longer sufficient. Manufacturers are looking for real data specific to their business. »

1]At the end of 2018, Decoset entrusted SUEZ with the operation of 13 waste collection centres in Toulouse with the aim of continuous improvement, performance optimisation and improving the quality of service to users.

Translated from Intelligence Artificielle : SUEZ et ffly4u déploient une solution pour optimiser la collecte des déchets sur le territoire toulousain