One of the critical aspects of facility management is effective wastes management. Waste management in facilities refers to the set of practices and processes that are employed to handle and dispose wastes generated within a facility. These wastes can be either solid, liquid, or gaseous, and may also contain hazardous substances – posing threat to the environment as well as the people working/living in and around the facilities. Thus, be it small or large, effective waste management is critical in every facility.
However, the task of effective waste management can be very challenging, especially in large facilities. However, with technological advancement and the coming of facility management software; streamlining and managing wastes in facilities have become considerably easy. Thus, this blog attempts at discussing the importance of waste management in facilities and the common challenges encountered by the facility managers in effective waste management and how facility management software can aid waste management in facilities.
Why Effective Waste Management is Important in Facilities?
Effective waste management practices in facilities involves waste segregation, their proper storage, transportation and disposal. Not only this, it also involves the application of waste reduction strategies like recycling & composting. Also, for effective waste management, it is necessary that the facilities adopt practices that reduce wastes generated in the first place, like using energy-efficient equipment and processes.
Researches have shown that by the year 2050, waste production in the world is expected to reach 27 billion tonnes per year. Thus, by implementing comprehensive waste management, facilities can minimize their environmental impact, adhere with the rules & regulations and conserve resources. Further, effective waste management make facilities committed to continuous improvement and regular monitoring that helps ensure that the practices are in place and are effective and sustainable. All these practices significantly impact the health, safety and efficiency in facilities as well as improves the experience of the people living/ working in facilities.
What are the Major Challenges Faced by Facility Managers in Undergoing Effective Waste Management?
The facility managers are vested with this critical task of waste management in facilities. Wastes are generated in the facilities on a day-to-day basis and it is the responsibility of the facility managers to effectively manage them and ensure the hygiene and cleanliness in facilities. However, in performing their task of effective waste management, the facility managers are confronted with a number of challenges, that includes:
Mixed Dumping of Wastes: Employees’ engagement is crucial for effective wastes management in the facilities. But it is generally seen that employees do not give importance to this aspect and undertake actions like mixed dumping of organic and toxic wastes, making it difficult for the facility managers to effectively manage wastes in the facilities.
Improper Wastes Classification: Variety of wastes are generated in facilities, including food wastes, hazardous wastes, electronic wastes and such others. Proper classification of these wastes is indeed necessary for their proper disposal. However, classifying and managing these different waste streams becomes very complex for the facilities managers.
Over-flowing Bins: Another big challenge faced by facility managers while undergoing waste management is the problem of over-flowing bins. Over-flowing bins create an unpleasant and unsanitary environment, attracts pests and vermin, possessing health hazards to the people living/ working in the vicinity and also increases the potential of fire hazards in facilities.
Absence of On-Source Segregation: On-source segregation is very essential to ensure the proper disposal of wastes. However, manually ensuring on-source segregation is very difficult and sometimes impossible for the facility managers.
How Can Facility Management Software Aid Effective Waste Management in Facilities?
The emergence of facility management software has been revolutionizing the way facility managers perform their task of managing facilities. From space management & security surveillance to predictive maintenance & waste management, viAct facility management software leveraging the power of AI Video Analytics plays a critical role. By providing real-time visibility into waste generation as well as disposal activities, this smart software facilitates wastes management, enables wastes reduction, helps stay in compliance with regulations, saves pennies and improves the experience of the people living/ working in the facilities.
The following are the different ways viAct’s facility management software uses industry-leading vision technology to offer smart AI monitoring solutions for effective waste management:
Real-time Bin Monitoring & Over-flowing Bin Alerts: The smart facility management software can undergo round-the-clock monitoring of the bins in real-time. It can detect the type(s) of materials being dumped as well as instances like bins getting overfilled and trigger instant alerts so that the concerned stakeholder can take appropriate actions. This helps avoid situations like overflowing bins causing unhygienic environment and also helps save costs.
On-source Waste Segregation & Classification: The dynamic AI monitoring system can classify different types of wastes generated on-site and ensure that the right type of waste is disposed in the right container. This helps segregation of wastes at its very source and prevent instances of mixed dumping of organic & toxic wastes. This further helps the concerned stakeholders to properly dispose wastes as per their nature & type.
Illegal Dumping Detection: The smart AI powered cameras can detect if any person dumps waste in any restricted area/ premise of the facilities and trigger real-time & instant alerts so that immediate actions can be undertaken to restore cleanliness in the facility/ property.
Detailed Bin Inventory: Using the centralized management platform, the facilities managers can view all the bins in their facility/ property in real-time that too at any time & from anywhere. Here they can have insights into locations of the bins, their last measurement, collection schedule and pick recognition, type of wastes being dumped and so on. Thus, using the facility management software, facility managers get an added benefit of having a detailed bin inventory at a single place.
Waste Collection Planning & Route Monitoring: The smart waste management system by viAct can help facility managers to track fill-levels of the bins and pick-up requirements and accordingly plan waste collection frequency and routes. Moreover, the smart AI video analytics can further automate and optimize wastes collection route planning based on the existing data on wastes collection vehicles, depots, and landfill sites. This helps in better resource utilization and brings down the costs involved in this task.
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