Integrated software for routing, scales, and accounting helps users become more efficient in all facets of the business.

By Janis Keating

The solid waste business—what could be simpler? You collect trash from households and take it to the landfill. Job done.

But, of course, it’s not all that simple. Which routing procedures will best allow you to serve your customers in a timely manner while saving you costs and resources? Billings, as well as various government reports, depend upon the accurate weighing of trash taken in. Is that task as efficient as it could be?

Your landfill is limited in the amount of space it can use. Are you meeting land-use guidelines, or are you near the limit? All these questions are on waste managers’ minds, unless they get some automated help. Luckily, the marketplace offers a variety of computer programs to answer these questions (allowing you to sleep a little better).

Carry That Weight
How many tons do you accept each day, and who’s responsible/billable for all that trash? Scales have been an integral part of your operation for years, but as business increases and more trash and carriers become part of your daily haul, the paperwork piles up. Keeping track of all that trash becomes a full-time job for a crew of workers.

Or not—especially if you integrate the scales with your reporting software, as the Delaware Solid Waste Authority (DSWA) did when it installed the CompuWeigh program produced by Paradigm Software LLC (www.paradigmsoftware.com). This Windows-based software keeps track of real-time weights, measures, and reporting for solid waste.

“We originally had our own in-house program, written in Visual Basic, which served this function,” says the DSWA’s Andrew Taylor. “It identified each truck by a number, and when that truck went onto the scale, it was weighed. Of course, that was when we were probably weighing 30 to 40 trucks per day. Now we have 700 pass through here daily. Also, we now levy special charges for items like tires, asbestos, et cetera. We needed to track more than just weight; we needed to glean more information from our software—to track loads, and other processes.

“At the time, most of the programs we saw had been designed for the coal-shipping industry—a process similar to ours, but not exactly,” he goes on.

“Paradigm was the best software we looked at; it concentrated on our industry. At the time, Paradigm was the only one to cover all the bases. They were new then; we’ve grown together.”

Time was of the essence in more ways than one. “This was in 1998, before the ‘Y2K crunch,’” Taylor continues. “We decided we were getting complex enough that we needed robust software to take care of the information we needed to track. Part of this was caused by the state’s growth in the last seven to eight years.”

He explains how the DSWA uses the Paradigm products: “Weighstation runs the computers at the scale station; it’s very configurable to your operations. The scalemaster types in each truck’s information. For example, is it carrying municipal solid waste, which is billed at $58.50 a ton? The scalemaster puts this information into the software. The truck is weighed when it comes in, then again when it leaves, so we know how much the truck brought into the landfill. Some trucks have an RF [radio frequency] reader, so this input is done automatically.

“CompuWeigh is the database which collects weight information that comes in each day. We also update any customer information into this database. For example, if a company added a new truck to its fleet, we enter its information into the database, which is in turn uploaded to the scalehouse computer.”

Taylor describes how the database puts information at his fingertips: “Where’s the most waste coming from—which of our three counties? Delaware has three landfills, one in each county; haulers can go to any, but they usually go to the closest. CompuWeigh can give us that information. The data is also used to estimate landfill life. Which county is growing more? Do we need a transfer station? Are we getting more tires than normal? These types of data are in our annual report, and the state gets some reports on our operations, as well. Also, if consultants are possibly looking to add on to our landfill, or working on the site, they need to know what tonnage is coming in.”

The DSWA is mainly responsible for the landfill. “The only curbside collection we do is recycling,” Taylor says. “Otherwise, it’s private haulers who pick up the state’s trash. We also take in greenwaste, which is given a special charge. It’s stored in a different spot, and we grind it to make mulch. When you bring in trash, you pay right then and there at the landfill, unless it’s a big, regular customer—they get an invoice, and we use Microsoft’s Business Solutions Dynamic SL to generate the invoices, although Paradigm has its own accounting software that we could use if we wanted to.”

Computerization has sped up the process, minimizing “traffic jams,” and allowing more loads to be processed each day. “We used to do weighing with a ticket that was handwritten; now haulers get a scan card, like a credit card, which identifies them. During especially busy times, we also use handheld scanners for bar coding, which allows us to identify vehicles more quickly,” Taylor concludes.

Standardized Scalehouse
For Christopher Hubbard, vice president of information systems and technology for Casella Waste Systems in Rutland, VT, standardizing scalehouse accounting operations was the driving force behind the selection of Oxford, PA–based PC Scale to provide software for data handling at 60 facilities. “The process,” Hubbard says, “has reduced our overall support costs and streamlined our processing and billing system integration.”

PC Scale offers a variety of options ranging from off-the-shelf software to highly customized integrated scale and route management systems able to take truckload data through back-office modules for generating invoices and tracking accounts. “Capturing complete operational data through a standardized, fully integrated application provides our customers with a real-time view of their business,” he says. “Putting comprehensive information into the hands of company management gives them a solid foundation from which to make business decisions,” says Ken Good, president of PC Scale Inc.

Weighing in on an Integrated System
For its operations, the City of Phoenix, AZ, selected the Weighmaster software for Windows, made by Information Systems Inc. (www.isi-infosys.com).

“We use both the Scalehouse and Office software,” says Joe Giudice, deputy director of Phoenix’s Solid Waste Disposal Division. “There are some features we don’t use, such as accounting, because the city has its own programs.”

Giudice explains the scope of his operations: “We have two transfer stations that serve our residents—the city contains 360,000 households. One transfer station is for the north side of the city, the other for the south. Our landfill is 50 to 70 miles away from these transfer stations.

“We have commingled recycling at both transfer stations, and we have residents who come directly to the transfer station if they have stuff that’s too big or if their apartment complex doesn’t have recycling. Landscapers, yard cleanup companies, roofers, small-scale private haulers, et cetera, also come to our transfer stations—that’s where we use ISI’s scale software. However, the City of Phoenix is our main customer. We don’t do commercial collection; private companies do that. One transfer station separates yardwaste from the mainstream; the other does not. [As for] what we do receive, we have a contractor who takes the yardwaste and makes compost for sale.”

Weighmaster receives information from city trucks automatically. “At the transfer station, we use radio frequency identification for both inbound city trucks and outbound haulers. This transmission lets Weighmaster know which vehicle has come in and its tare weight. When trucks are on the scale, the software performs a transaction and tells the gate to open up, and the truck goes into the transfer station.”

Giudice thinks Weighmaster offers many advantages. “Using it improves the quality of data we collect—there are fewer errors. Being automated also speeds up the transaction. The city truck comes to the transfer station, and rather than the driver having to go up and tell the scale person all the information about this vehicle, the automated system records it all—and within seconds the gate goes up.”

What about the average citizen, bringing in, say, an old water heater? “That still needs to do be done the manual way, of course,” Giudice says.

The software is hard at work at the landfill, too. “The software also records when the long-haul truck comes in. Since we’ve already weighed it on the way out of the transfer station, this is a quality check, to make sure the same truck that left there is the one that comes into the landfill.”

All the information Weighmaster collects is then sent to the main office. “The scale data from multiple locations is transmitted to our main server in the office, which also communicates to other software in the organization. And we have a large organization—400 staff in one group, 100 in another,” Giudice explains. “Weighmaster integrates with all our other software; our billing system is SAP [Systeme, Anwendungen, und Produkte in der Datenverarbeitung]. ISI also does some of this integration, but we already had some software we were happy with.

“Billing from this system is different than the one mailed to Phoenix citizens. Residents receive a monthly bill from refuse, water, and sewer. Invoices from this system are for other customers—like landscapers, small haulers, et cetera. If we have a charge customer or another city department, like the Parks Department, we have to bill them, too.”

Information about customers must be collected before their trash is accepted. “Those who don’t have RF systems must furnish their tare weight so we can input that into the system, so the scale will know how much refuse they’re bringing in. [For] some of them, if they’re over a certain weight, a tare weight will be assigned to their vehicle and accounted and put into the system. If their tare weight is below a certain amount, such as a small landscaper bringing yardwaste in a pickup truck, they just pay a flat fee; we don’t even bother recording tare weight for those customers.”

How did Phoenix select Weighmaster? “A few years back, the city determined we needed integrated software for waste management,” says Giudice. “We selected a company to put together this system, and Weighmaster was the first choice. We also use an employee time and tracking component, and those pieces were still having issues working together—but Weighmaster also integrates the tracking component. When we take in hazardous materials like old paint, we track this sort of stuff. As we also divert the greenwaste at one transfer station, we track that separately, too. We track what our trucks bring in, what kind of material, how heavy. We’re also looking for peaks during the day—when are they, how can we manage the facility better during those times—this sort of information has to be readily available.

“Tracking peak loads also lets us anticipate traffic, not only daily, but throughout the year. For example, springtime brings very high-volume months of inbound material. We also offer quarterly bulk trash service—when you can put out things like a couch—these pickups ebb and flow. Sometimes we need to add crews to certain areas of the city, when communities mature, for then we have vegetation which also matures, and the amount of trash they have grows.

“Our customer service component doesn’t work with Weighmaster, but of course, that’s a whole different process that has nothing to do with weight. Let’s say you’re a resident and your trash can wasn’t picked up. You can call in, and we will send someone out to get it with one of our automated sideloader trucks. Since citizens must use a specially mandated [in terms of size and shape] trash container that works with our trucks, weight isn’t part of the equation at that point.”

Hand-Held Technology
Carolina Software’s Waste Works suite—including WasteWorks, the computer software/operating system; WasteWizard, the scalehouse portion of the software; and WasteWalker, a hand-held data collection device—can be used as a comprehensive system, or its parts can be used individually, interfacing with a variety of operating systems (www.wasteworks.com).

Iowa’s Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency has been using the entire suite since 1999. Office Manager Pat Myers explains how her agency uses the product.

“Works is the custom software for the landfill, and there’s other uses for it. At the scalehouse, Works makes the ticket the hauler receives. We have two inbound scales; one is a drive-up window, where one of our staff weighs the truck that’s come in, inputs the customer’s information into WasteWorks, and hands the driver his ticket. When the driver leaves empty, the staffer weighs the difference, and that’s what the hauler owes.

“The other scale is an automated station run by WasteWizard. Our regular customers—charge customers—use this lane, which has a pushbutton pad where they input their code number. The computer will then call up their information, including their stored tare weight, and the truck is weighed. Because we already know what their truck weighs with nothing in it, WasteWizard immediately knows the weight of the trash they’ll unload. WasteWizard allows trucks to go faster through the scale process.”

At the end of each business day, Myers downloads all the collection tickets and information into the company’s server. “WasteWorks then does billing for our charge customers; it also generates the reports we need to file with the state and federal governments. Because the program has all the data on what’s been coming in, WasteWorks also lets us know when it’s time to move on to another part of the landfill,” Myers says.

Even with two scales—one of them a fast automated lane—there are some times when a line of trucks piles up. For those instances, Myers’s coworkers grab a WasteWalker. “This hand-held unit allows us to come up and talk to you while you’re waiting in line. We input your data, and the Walker produces a little receipt for you. We can then accept the money for whatever you have to dump. At the end of the day, all the Walker’s data is downloaded into WasteWorks.”

For her operation, Myers finds WasteWorks does it all. “[As for] the software we had before, the company went out of business,” she says. “But this software was the lifeline of our business. We have to be able to rely on it. Our agency looked at several different software companies; WasteWorks was easiest to use, and did everything we needed it to do—quickly and accurately. It also interfaces with other programs we use, such as Excel. That’s one of the great things about WasteWorks—it’s so easy to work with the data. The accounting department uses it, too—for example, if they might want to track a certain product that came in, like hazardous waste. WasteWorks’s technical support is beyond anything—we absolutely love it.”

Down the road, at Des Moines, IA’s Metro Waste Authority, WasteWorks has been online since 1997.

“Our organization is responsible for one whole county, parts of three other counties, and 16 cities, some of which spill over into other counties. However, Polk County is the main county we serve,” says Chief Financial Officer Ron Lacey. “We’ve been using WasteWorks since the day we opened our new scalehouse.”

Two of the authority’s lines are automated with WasteWizard. Sometimes Lacey’s organization uses WasteWalker, too: “We use that if we lose power or something, and then we can download to the main computer when it’s back up.”

Des Moines switched software when it upgraded its computer system. “We were running old software on an IBM AS400, and we wanted to go to computers running Microsoft,” Lacey explains. “The old software company went out of business, so we went with WasteWorks. For our accounting needs, we use Great Plains Dynamics software, pulling figures from WasteWorks to the general ledger, and it works very well. We’re also able to glean monthly totals for sales and collection figures, and we invoice from WasteWorks. We can also run reports into Excel spreadsheets.”

Does the software help him run day-to-day operations on the landfill itself? “No, our operations manager has a GPS [global positioning system], and his crews manage the system of which area to fill, when to close an area, et cetera. Our permit only allows us to go so many feet high. However, the operations manager uses a lot of reports off WasteWorks to find out how many tons, how many trucks come in per day. We run curbside pickup for recycling, and WasteWorks does the billing for that; we charge the city so much per household for pickups.”

For regular customers, information about the trash coming in is coded into the WasteWizard keypad. “Although lots of customers don’t give us a tare weight, when they use the keypad at the scale, drivers will punch in truck and customer numbers, a six-digit combination. They also key in a two-digit material number. For example, 11 is residential waste, 22 is commercial waste. There’s another code for yardwaste. Only four types of trash go through our automated lanes: residential, commercial, yardwaste, and construction and demolition.” As his company also operates a hazardous-waste facility for households and small businesses, the WasteWorks software tracks loads and bills those people.

“We were first in Iowa to pick Carolina Software,” Lacey continues. “I think we saw three different software companies and their presentations; then we took trips to Kansas and Nebraska landfills to see how other landfills used software. We like that Carolina’s system is easier for our people; you don’t have to be well-acquainted with a computer to use it. It’s very user friendly—just mouse and key input.”

Des Moines Metro Waste Authority operates a landfill, a transfer station, a compost facility, and a regional collection center for hazardous waste; Lacey has found that WasteWorks saves the authority money. “The transfer station used to have a scalehouse with an employee; now it’s automated. Using the software saved one employee at the landfill, too. We pay a maintenance fee to Carolina Software, and then we get annual software updates—we don’t have to worry about them. Carolina e-mails updates to us, and we download them. I am happy with WasteWorks—it’s very reliable and very seldom goes down.”

Meanwhile in California, at the County of Sacramento Kiefer Landfill, Waste Management Program Manager Doug Kobold is now at his second WasteWorks operation. “I worked in a previous county and put in Carolina’s software there,” he says. “Kiefer Landfill put in the WasteWorks program in February 2002.”

Kiefer Landfill operates one large landfill and one transfer station, serving 152,000 households from the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County. “The county is vertically integrated,” Kobold explains. “We collect trash, and we also take in tonnage from commercial haulers and residents. We sometimes also take refuse from adjoining counties.

“We also use WasteWizard,” he goes on. “At the landfill we have one ‘express lane,’ which is automated. Primarily just the county trucks use this particular lane, because we have input all the information about these trucks, such as their tare weights, et cetera. Trucks from the city of Sacramento could use it, too. At our transfer station, city and county trucks use one of two Wizard automated systems there; we have a second Wizard for our outgoing transfer trucks.”

Carolina Software was chosen during the landfill’s request-for-proposals process. “They had the best product for our needs—not only our current needs, but also the program had expandability—it could adapt to what we might need in the future. We use WasteWorks for standard reports, although we also use Crystal Reports, which can take data from WasteWorks, for a whole host of reports—compliance, materials in and out, economic reports—some of which are used daily, some monthly.”

Kobold’s computer system is Windows-based, and WasteWorks integrates with it well. “When buying new software, we wanted an off-the-shelf product rather than customized, so that any changes made to the software benefits all the customers. The software contains no special parts for a bunch of different clients. During the RFP [request for proposals] process, we asked those who bid for our business that their software had at least 200-some installations all over the country, just so we knew it wasn’t a fly-by-night program that would become an orphan. We also wanted something that was flexible, so we could call in all sorts of data. We chose WasteWorks.”

Correct the First Time
Sometimes, doing your job well is not enough—governing agencies require proof of your results. The Southeast Public Service Authority in Chesapeake, VA, chose WasteBid.com Inc.’s MatTrack to do just that (www.wastebid.com).

“MatTrack has a lot better tracking ability for customers of curbside recycling,” says Recycling Superintendent Ed Hacker. “Before, everything was in an Excel spreadsheet—we only really counted set-out rates and tonnages. Now we can track data by individual routes. We can identify target areas for education to boost participation in our recycling program. We can also get data by drivers and routes.”

The Southeast Public Service Authority doesn’t collect trash: “We only handle recycling. An outside vendor takes what we’ve collected; we have a revenue share with the recycler. Our drivers have a log, which contains when they punch in and out, their route and the number of homes on it, how much gasoline was used. We take all this information and manually put it into MatTrack. The program has the ability to plug into the scales and do it automatically, but we do it manually, since it’s in-office software, nothing’s on the trucks. With MatTrack, I can get the miles per gallon for each truck, which helps me make decisions, plan budgets, and the like.”

Hacker’s organization has been using the software since September 2006. Yet, despite the program’s efficiency, every so often his crews have to really “dig into” their work. “Depending on when the contract calls for it, we do vehicle audits,” he says. “We and the vendor go through our recyclables by hand to see what’s in there. They can call for an audit at any time, and so can we; this is just a periodic check on what our data has been telling us. Both of us want accuracy, as we get percentages on what’s collected.”

Daily, the contractor reports on what recyclables he’s accepted from Hacker’s crews. “He could send it electronically, but we have to input data anyway, so these reports are on paper. From our collected data, we pull out monthly tracking reports on each driver, keeping track of downtime, et cetera.”

Since the Southeast Public Service Authority is a nonprofit political subdivision of the State of Virginia, Hacker has to submit reports to the state and to the cities involved in his recycling program. “We report set-out rates to member cities. As we’re set up to be a ‘break-even system,’ our income helps us keep down our costs to the cities. MatTrack has saved us a lot of time with these reports. The old Excel reports were very time-consuming and didn’t give us all the data we needed for reports, such as driver and
vehicle performance.

“We serve five cities and two counties; the software also helps us identify areas where recycling participation has fallen off,” Hacker explains. “If that happens, we go out to the local civic leagues, and remind them of the benefits of participation. For example, in residential areas with a high number of rental units, we will put more information out there, because there’s lots of resident turnovers, and the information may not have been passed on.”

Although it’s a “manual” process, outreach is also an important facet of Hacker’s work. “We have offered the recycling program to condos, small businesses—places other than single-family homes. Those larger customers receive 95-gallon carts, and they have to pay for the service, but they can participate, too. Sometimes they come to us of their own volition, or we can solicit them. We also have a public information office that goes out to schools, at their request, with educational programs.”

MatTrack works for Hacker: “In a nutshell, we now have the ability to track the material, and the information, needed for our operation.”

Tracking Trash From Space
Despite the fact that America seems to be filled with wide-open spaces, landfill owners know that it’s not, and that care has to be taken to efficiently utilize every cubic foot of the land available.

By using software and GPS information from GeoLogic Computer Systems Inc. (www.gcs3d.com), the Development Authority of the North Country’s Solid Waste Management Facility in Rodman, NY, effectively uses its available land and has lengthened the life of its landfill.

“We installed it in 2005,” says Operations Supervisor Stephen McElwain. “We like it so much, we’re going to upgrade and add a second receiver so we can run two machines. This will give us more capabilities of site surveys to twice a year collect the data that we give to engineers.”

The key to the software is the GPS, which gives McElwain exact coordinates, not only of where certain trash is located, but also of how deep it is. The exact elevation measurements also let workers know how close they are to the landfill’s mandated height restrictions.

“GeoLogic keeps us up to date on compaction, and the landfill site’s life,” he explains. “We have a base system in the operations office that monitors the continuous, real-time operation of the compactor, which crushes everything coming into the landfill. As we have only X-amount of airspace at the landfill—we can go only so high—if we can push 1,700 pounds of trash per cubic yard instead of 1,500, we’re getting more waste into the same volume of airspace.

“That information’s realized right at the machine,” McElwain goes on. “The compactor operator has a video screen, which shows him that he’s compacted it enough. He will get a green area on his screen, which tells him it’s pretty compact. All this information comes from satellites in space—from the GPS. The material in the compactor is measured by taking points east, west, north, south, and a vertical dimension. Every time the GPS goes over the points, it measures each—we’re now within one tenth of a foot. That’s how precise these measurements are.”

GeoLogic also allows workers to know exactly where the daily cell is located and where items that require special handling have to be placed.

“Our landfill is laid out in a grid system. With GPS, workers know exactly where to place that day’s trash,” he says. “If we take in something like asbestos, we need to know where it has been placed—in a special area—so it can be properly contained. In certain areas where we have placed waste such as this, the GPS takes all the guesswork out of compaction and proper locating.”

Does such a high-tech system require specialized workers? “Training takes about a day for someone to learn the GPS,” he says. “Workers are first trained on the compactor, and then on the GPS.”

Precise measurements of the input and the highest possible compaction can make a big difference in the landfill’s operation. “When you crunch the numbers over 300,000 tons a year, when you increase compaction by a couple percentage points, that comes to a lot of material,” McElwain says. “We work closely with a private engineering firm that takes our data, determines how much more we can put into the landfill  with expected settlement, and does it all while meeting regulations.

“We do a total site survey twice a year, to make sure the numbers and the compaction match,” he goes on. “We also make sure we’ve created the right slope angles. We used to do this by using traditional surveying equipment, but we found we were losing a lot of airspace, so the GPS is of immense help. As we need to abide with state regulations—New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation regulates landfills. This helps us stay in compliance and get the most from our design. The GeoLogic system has saved us probably 20 times the cost of the system.”

The Rodman landfill currently operates two compactors, and a new 10-acre cell is going in next to the landfill.

“We will continue where we are now, but adding in the new one, with another GeoLogic system, we will be able to keep track on all this,” McElwain says. “It’s a no-brainer on what we will be saving. We’re extremely satisfied with the system, and we’re working with GeoLogic to get even more out of the software program. We hired a GIS technician, and, using his expertise, we now get 3D representations of the landfill to keep us well-informed on what we have, what we’re building. We’ve had several other landfill representatives come by to ask us about GeoLogic. I understand all of them decided to purchase.”

Has McElwain ever had to locate evidence in the trash, a situation often depicted on television crime shows? “We can find things in stored data—the date and time the trash went into the landfill—so, with information on each daily cell, and with GPS locating, we know where things are, and we could probably find the evidence if need be. Thus far, our only ‘dig’ was when a local business accidentally threw away its money bag at the end of the day. They called us, asking who picks up their trash; we looked it up, located the cell, how deep in the pile it lay, and were about to scoop it out when they got here. Their staff put on coveralls, and had to sort through the specific cell part we pulled out—but it didn’t take them more than about an hour. The bag, containing about $10,000, was found! The business was so appreciative, our operators got a couple boxes of donuts, and everyone
was happy.”

Janis Keating is a frequent contributor to Forester Communications publications.

MSW - September/October 2007

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