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Smarter Waste Management with ECOVE’s Data Analysis

ECOVE Waste Management Corporation (ECOVE WMC), a subsidiary of ECOVE, is an expert in waste collection management and clearance for over 20 years. ECOVE WMC supports ECOVE’s commitment in becoming “a practitioner in resource cycling” and fulfilling the vision of ECOVE’s parent group— CTCI— in serving as a “guardian of the sustainable Earth.” At ECOVE, we are actively making improvements on and increasing the application of intelligent management technologies, one of which is applying data analysis to waste clearance and management. This can help achieve better integration of information coming from upstream and downstream. On the other hand, we also explore the sources of waste generation and help clients set up a “pollution prevention mechanism from product full lifecycle perspective,” which allows reusable resources to return to the production lines. 

In this article, we will talk about how ECOVE applies smart, “cradle-to-cradle” resource management and effective utilization of waste to jointly protect the global environment with the government and other client companies.

Helping Clients Improve Resource Cycling Efficiency with Waste Management Expertise

As global warming intensifies and the public awareness increases globally, Taiwanese authorities are actively making resource cycling policies to get ready for “the transition to net-zero emissions.” In 2021, Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) set up the Resource Cycling Office and Climate Change Office. Apart from reviewing policies and regulations, integrating administrative resources, and designing resource cycling and greenhouse gas reduction measures, the EPA demanded companies to support its policies. Companies are now required to come up with more environmentally-friendly and sustainable solutions when making products or providing services to customers.

From the waste processing perspective, companies nowadays are generating ever-increasing waste in terms of amount and complexity, and ECOVE is capable of helping companies upscale their resource cycling efficiency, while supporting the government’s aforementioned ambition to achieve “transition to net zero emissions” and “resource cycling,” thanks to ECOVE’s ever-improving expertise on waste classification, storage, clearance, processing, treatment, disposal planning, integrative technology on the reuse of resources, as well as business development and facility operation. 

Optimize Commercial Waste Management through Data Analysis

In 2021, ECOVE handled around 270,000 tons of waste, accounting for nearly 25% of all waste in Taiwan. Thanks to ECOVE’s visionary development of the digital Waste Management Information System (WMIS) in 2004, ECOVE can now effectively control the source, the quality, and the quantity of large and complex incoming commercial waste in real time.

Since commercial waste clearance operations are cross-regional and time-sensitive systematic operations, it is necessary to further collect data and analyze them for better management. That is why in 2016 ECOVE brought together big data and cloud computing platforms, as well as optimized and upgraded the system. Through data mining, analysis, and integration, we are able to break down the waste sources and waste features by region, which in turn helps us determine and track the waste resources that have been misplaced in the EfW plants. We can then suggest our clients to adopt alternative and better disposal measures to achieve resource cycling.

Take isopropyl alcohol (IPA), a type of solvent used by high-tech plants, as an example. Traditionally, incineration is the common way to handle waste IPA. However, ECOVE worked with its clients and looked into ways that can recycle and reuse the waste IPA. Eventually, ECOVE came up with a solution that helps remove water content and impurities from the waste IPA, purify and further concentrate it, so that it can be reused in the production process. This is beneficial in that less amount of raw materials will be excavated and processed, greatly saves the cost of incineration, and reduces carbon emissions. Furthermore, to improve the EfW plants’ operating performance, ECOVE implements rolling adjustments to the amount and type of incoming waste according to the operating conditions. When the calorific value of waste becomes low, waste with higher calorific value is introduced to the plant to facilitate mixing operations.

Commercial Waste Management: Going Back to Where Waste Came From

When it comes to commercial waste management, the devil lies in the details. Leveraging on years of experience, ECOVE understands that a proper waste management must also include management of waste at its source. ECOVE staffs go back to where the waste comes from, learn about the production processes, study the waste output, their quality, quantity and classification, and see how waste is stored. Then the staff would introduce to clients the concept of “pollution prevention from full product life cycle” perspective, and make suggestions on optimal waste management at source. For instance, ECOVE has applied waste reuse technology for waste solutions from the high-tech industry to help customers set up reuse facilities within their plants. By addressing clients’ pain spots with effective solutions, ECOVE is helping clients reuse their resources in the production process, and jointly achieving waste reduction goals.

A commercial waste management procedure that goes back to the source

5G Applications Drives Diverse Smart IoT Services

There are a couple of issues from the waste clearance process that would negatively impact the effectiveness of waste processing at EfW plants. For instance, it is difficult to completely be aware of where waste goes at upstream and downstream stages after it is generated. Another problem is the inefficiency of paper-based audit operations. Also, the environmental protection facilities and environmental sanitation facilities across the nation are quite complex, making real-time management difficult. 

To ease management difficulty and tackle inefficiency, ECOVE continues to devise waste clearance and management technologies. Our IoT-based remote garbage truck monitoring platform, in combination with advanced driving assistance systems, driver behavior detection systems, and driving information diagnostics, can help monitor the trucks in every aspect. Truck data can be fed back immediately to the remote monitoring platform, allowing all waste removal information to be managed in the cloud. With a tablet in hand, operators are able to see right away the clearance status of waste that have been loaded from the client side. With such transparency of waste clearance and waste flow, clients can be free from worries.

In recent years, the EPA has been actively developing smart declaration tools for businesses, in response to the energy-saving and emissions-reduction trends, the call for transparency, and public convenience. Such tools include declaration form app, batch declaration, declaration interface reporting, and declaration form modules. This move greatly reduces paper use, accelerates data linkage, and reduces errors, accomplishing a greater level of energy conservation in resource recycling.

ECOVE is also improving its smart technologies and management with respect to waste collection management system. One of the improvements is about allowing the waste removal and waste processing ends to co-work on the previously mentioned platform developed by ECOVE— the Waste Management Information System. This will ensure quicker and more accurate data uploads to the EPA Control Center. People who co-work on such platform can also make improvement suggestions to enhance system functionality. By connecting with the EPA Control Center, WMIS can help control the declaration and flow of commercial waste. That way, we can keep our home clean.

The Trend towards Net Zero and Our Sustainability Commitment

“Net Zero by 2050” has become a global trend in carbon emissions reduction. Governments are also speeding up to promote circular economies. In the future, all data regarding waste cleaning, processing, or recycling will be inputted and utilized together, uploaded in real-time and extracted from every part of the process. As such, the only pathway to waste elimination needs to be legal and a safe one. Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 will be the key to corporate sustainable development. ECOVE is committed to the vision of being the most trustworthy resource recycling leader and will actively shoulder the responsibility to provide better quality, more diverse services to both the government and the private sector. It will support CTCI Group’s plan and continue to scout the latest environmental protection technologies from around the world, and increase the sustainable value of the resource cycling industry. 

Meanwhile, it will also encourage and promote inspections at waste sources, becoming a driving force behind cradle-to-cradle waste management. Though the development and upgrade of smart management technologies, ECOVE will play a matchmaker role in promoting a virtuous and sustainable resources cycle, fulfill its commitment to net zero, and achieve the ultimate goal of resource sustainability.