Sharjah: Hundreds of trash bins in Sharjah will act as hotspots, allowing people to connect to WiFi from early next year, it was announced on Tuesday.
The announcement is in line with UAE Innovation Week, which ends on Saturday.
The solar-powered smart bins will be introduced by Sharjah environmental and waste management company Bee’ah.
Designed and built by US bin solutions company BigBelly, the units will be placed across Sharjah and the UAE in “prominent locations”, Bee’ah said.
This will make Sharjah “the first location in the Middle East to have smart bin technology with WiFi hotspot in parallel with leading cities such as London and New York.”
The bins will also have sensors to detect when the bin is full to communicate with the Bee’ah control room. This will allow the company’s waste management division, Tandeef, to make the necessary collection efficiently.
The solar panels also provide the energy required to operate the compactor, which allows the bins to collect five times more trash before needing to be emptied.
Bee’ah chairman Salim Al Owais said: “The smart WiFi bins being introduced by Bee’ah are a step forward in environmental innovation, optimally merging efficiency and utility. The fact that Sharjah will be the region’s first location to offer them is a testament to our emirate’s growing status as an environmental capital of the Middle East. This technology is part of an innovative suite of ground-breaking products and services we are in the process of rolling out, in line with the innovative vision of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, to protect the environment and ensure a sustainable future.”
Tandeef has 2,000 employees operating a fleet of more than 500 vehicles. Its street cleaning and sweeping services and commercial waste collection, alongside facilities for pubic, residential, and office and school recycling, work closely together to provide an integrated environmental solution.
The new solar bins complement Bee’ah’s recently launched Tandeef Smart Eco-fleet, comprising low-noise electric vehicles and vehicles that use compressed natural gas to reduce the negative impact of CO2 emissions.
