A completely innovative system on an international level is being put in place by Algar. The Algarve company responsible for collecting solid urban waste has put its faith in information technology in order to do away with paper and make the process of rubbish collection more efficient. Until 2004, bureaucracy was one of the system’s weak points. Each time a truck left or arrived, they had to write a report on paper with the weight of each container of glass, paper and packaging, which was then sent for recycling.

Until one day someone had the bright idea of streamlining the process, saving paper and increasing the efficiency of the service. This was Hélio Viegas, an Algar employee and a computer specialist.

With the help of Idalécia Rodrigues, who, until then, had been processing the thousands of sheets with all the figures manually, Hélio developed a unique system. He told the Algarve Observer that what had led them to create SAGIR, the system for analysing and managing waste collection information, was the fact that there was no programme on the market that satisfied them.

First they tried scanning the sheets of paper, but this was not practical and it was not very clear. It was then that Hélio thought of Pocket PCs, mini-computers the size of a mobile phone that can handle a large quantity of information.

Everything became easier: when the men go round collecting the recyclable waste, they enter the data directly into the Pocket PC. So, if the glass container is full, for example, the men put this information into the computer.

If the packaging container if half full, they also put this information in the PC, and they can even record the fact that there is material outside the containers. The aim is that, when the teams arrive at the Transfer Station, they download the data into a central computer, and from then on, the system itself determines which containers the next team should collect, depending on the available information.

Idalécia Rodrigues said that sometimes the teams would arrive at 6 or 7 in the evening and it was impossible to have the figures in good time, and there was also a huge amount of paper. Suffice it to say that each of Algar’s 17 trucks allocated to collecting material for recycling empties on average 50 containers per day.

Hélio Viegas said that the first challenge was to find a solution that worked, and then people had to get used to it.

Rui Silva, aged 26, did not take long to adapt. He said that he already had an idea about mobile phones, and that it wasn’t difficult for him. The most difficult thing, he said, was knowing the different routes: the Algar employee added with a smile that the crane (which is used for lifting the “ecoponto” containers) is like playing on a Playstation.

Now, getting out of the truck on the Avenida de Quarteira with a computer in your hand, under the interested gaze of the many passers by, is one of the things that motivate some of the people working on waste collection.

For the people who “invented” the system, the motivation is different: SAGIR enables them to make substantial savings on the number of vehicles and personnel, and even on fuel consumption. By processing the information about how full the different “ecopontos” are, they can shorten routes, manage the company’s fleet better and make better use of their human resources.

And so, despite the ever increasing number of recycling points and the quantity of rubbish produced, Algar has managed to respond to demand with the same number of teams and trucks, something that was only possible using the IT system.

The next step will be the introduction of a GPS platform (satellite positioning) which will give the drivers information about the exact location of the “ecopontos”, something that is not always easy, especially for those who are new to the job. Another possibility is that SAGIR will be used for the collection of “normal” (i.e. non-recyclable) rubbish.

Next step: exportation

Hélio Barros, Algar’s CEO, believes that the system can start selling in a near future, both national and international wide.

“We will do a market bench and grab the experience of the company which is developing the Geographical Information System, so that we can then sell it”. The spanish market will be one of the first, according to the CEO.

The system has already been patented, and is being improved by Aquasys, a software developer for Nokia and Siemens, for instance. Next May, the new version including GPS shoud be running.

Hélio Barros didn’t say the amount expected in revenues when the system gets in the market, but it shouldn’t be difficult to realise that it can be a real “hen that lays golden eggs”.

source: algarve observer