From Pilot Project to City-Wide System: How Alingsås Rolled Out Bigbelly Public Spaces
Alingsås was an early adopter of Bigbelly an urban setting. Starting with the first solar-powered, connected trash bins, the municipality has gradually expanded the system—and now has about 50 Bigbelly located in public spaces. This case study demonstrates how smart waste management can progress from a pilot project to established operations when the solution works well in everyday life.
From the first smart trash cans to a larger system
Alingsås began by testing solar-powered, self-monitoring trash cans in the urban environment. Even during the early stages of implementation, the municipality noted that Bigbelly signal when the bins needed to be emptied, while also being portable and able to be placed where they were most needed.
In 2019, Alingsås had a total of six smart trash cans located at sites including Lilla Torget, Åmanska Parken, Stora Torget, and Kungsgatan. The municipality stated at the time that staff received notifications directly on their cell phones when the trash cans needed to be emptied, and that they noticed more people were using the trash cans.
Today, the initiative has grown to include about 50 Bigbelly in Alingsås. This makes the case study particularly interesting: Alingsås demonstrates how smart waste management can begin as a pilot project, be evaluated in real-world operations, and then be scaled up to more locations.
Smarter Operations in a Growing Urban Environment
Alingsås is a city with many public gathering places, squares, parks, and pedestrian streets. In such environments, the amount of waste varies depending on the season, the weather, events, and how people move through the city.
With Bigbelly , the operations team Bigbelly a better overview of fill levels and emptying needs. This makes it easier to prioritize the right locations, reduce unnecessary inspection rounds, and keep public spaces better maintained over time.
Bigbelly a connected waste bin with a compaction system, solar power, and sensors for remote monitoring of fill levels. The solution can help provide a better overview, cleaner environments, more efficient workflows, and a better basis for decision-making and optimization.
A Case Study on Long-Term Establishment
The most compelling aspect of the Alingsås case isn't just the number of stations. It's the development over time.
The municipality moved from a small number of pilot units to a broader rollout. This shows that Bigbelly can serve Bigbelly only as a one-off initiative at a single location, but also as part of a larger system for the city’s waste management.
"We have been very pleased with the bins we have had and those who work with emptying them get information directly to their mobile phones about when the garbage needs to be collected. Besides, we notice that people use the trash cans more and throw more trash in them. Now we are thinking of buying even more," says Åke Aronsson, the municipality's project manager for infrastructure.
