Cleaning up with new technology Jackie Barnette Public Works Director City of Kings Mountain, North Carolina
dvances in technology are all around us—smaller, faster work computers, smarter phones, the ability to connect to the Internet from almost anywhere. And so it’s always a good idea for municipalities and organizations to search for the best ways to include high-tech tools in their work processes. That doesn’t mean you start buying every gizmo that hits the market, but when you look at an existing process or a new program and ask how it could be done better, you definitely should explore all your technology options.
I was open to his idea, but I had something else in mind, too. We were just developing a curbside recycling program, with a grant from the state of North Carolina to get started. And the grant indicated a preference for using RFID readers to track recycling participation. We had previously considered using handheld computers for other applications, but we hadn’t been able to justify the cost. But a handheld computer with RFID capability built in? With this grant program we had some real justification.
So we put together a package of tools that would do the job. First we had a customized software program created. It was based on a simple programmable touchscreen interface, with buttons for different data-gathering functions. This would let our workers use a simple button-level approach to collect information. We needed a compatible piece of hardware with specific functionality for field work, and we chose the Nautiz X7 rugged handheld from Handheld US. It has RFID
That’s what my city did for our new curbside recycling program, and we ended up with a simple but effective system that has proved to be both time- and cost-efficient for us. Our public works department is using a combination of a handheld computer, a customized software program and a rugged radio frequency identification (RFID) antenna and reader. And we have ideas for how to use the technology to do even more. Lots of ideas. It started with a sales call from Mack McCarter of LogicConcepts, a technology company that specializes in data collection systems. He contacted us about streamlining our sanitation collection process—“get the right people to the right place, save gas,” is how he described it. 54 APWA Reporter
June 2012
The City of Kings Mountain’s new recycling program used handheld computers and RFID technology to divert nearly 600 tons of waste from the local landfill in its first year—17 percent of the city’s total residential waste.
