Waste sorting by barcode

Sorting waste using barcodes motivates citizens. In the small village of Chelčice in the Strakonice region, they have introduced bagged sorted waste collection using barcodes and are satisfied.

The bags have to be well tied and the barcode labels have to be visibly stuck on. The part in the system of bagged sorted waste collection with barcode identification is voluntary. The taxpayer is issued free self-adhesive labels for each collection commodity after registration. The label contains a barcode with information on the commodity, the serial number of the label and identifies the taxpayer by means of a generated code. Underneath the code is information

collection information is presented on the municipality's website. For each properly filled bag, the taxpayer is awarded bonus points for which they receive a certain amount of money. The amount thus accumulated is deducted from the taxpayer's lump sum payment for the collection of the bins in the following collection period. For example, the value of one point may be CZK 5. The entire collection agenda is handled by the Codeware collection software.

WHAT THE CONDITIONS MAY BE

The conditions for filling the bags can be as follows. The label shall be affixed in a clearly visible place. If the minimum weight of the bag is not respected, if it is dirty or if it contains poorly sorted commodities, no points will be awarded for that particular bag. If the taxpayer does not fill the bag for the collection month, he/she has the option to continue to fill the bag and submit it for collection on the next collection date. The collection service, which reads the barcodes from the bags as they are collected, enters any defects directly into the terminal which reads the defect. "In cases where sorting conditions are not met, bonus points cannot be credited to the taxpayer. We draw his attention to this fact in the interim results on the municipality's website (www.chelcice.cz). There he can see what defects his bags had and what he has to look out for next time. In case of disagreement, the taxpayer can agree with the municipality and prove that things were different with a certain bag. The authority has the possibility to correct and change the number of points in the software. The transparency of the collection system is guaranteed and everyone can check whether all the bags they have handed in have been registered. In order to be awarded points, it is also necessary that the taxpayer has paid the municipal solid waste collection fees on time and in the appropriate amount," explains Miroslav Dušek, deputy mayor of the municipality of Chelčice, which has around 330 inhabitants. Bags with stickers and a barcode are collected once a month on designated days directly from the house. The operator reads the barcode with a scanner during collection. At the same time, they check whether the conditions for awarding points are met. The barcode can be read again at any time and the parameters entered can be modified. "For example, if there is a problem with a bag when it is handed over to a subsequent organisation, the relevant taxpayer can be identified immediately. If the barcode cannot be read, there is still a numerical form on the label which can be entered using the keypad on the reader and the bag can be read in this way. The bags can be used on their own or purchased from the municipal office at wholesale price. The full bags are then taken to the relevant organisations," says the deputy mayor.

WHAT IS NEEDED

The municipality purchases the software - Codeware collection, which it loads on its computer, and also a portable data terminal, which it always lends to the collection company. It can either print the self-adhesive labels on a laser printer, or it can purchase a printer to print waterproof labels (from the so-called waterproof label printer). The barcode labels must be stuck on visibly.

Once the collection is complete, the reader is placed in a charging stand and the collected data can be "downloaded" to a computer where it is processed and archived. The programme allows the number of points per commodity and the price per point to be changed according to the evolution of payments from EKO-KOM and downstream customer organisations. It can also be expanded to include other commodities in the commodity codebook or to modify the reasons for not awarding bonus points in the error codebook. Convenient editing of individual taxpayers in the database and backup of files is a matter of course. The labels are printed on a standard laser printer (24 labels per A4 sheet, 70 x 36 mm). "We started bagging sorted waste from the house in 2008 and introduced the barcode system in the second quarter of this year. At present, the municipality neither subsidises the system nor makes any money from it. However, what we have achieved is that we have not had to increase the prices for bin collections this year, the proportion of unsorted waste has decreased and the payments from EKO-KOM have more than doubled. The financial incentive to sort waste has aroused quite a lot of interest among citizens. In the first quarter of this year, more than half of the taxpayers signed up for the system," concluded Deputy Mayor Miroslav Dušek.

Reward system in Chelčice

Taxpayers who pay their local fees on time and in the correct amount and at the same time participate in the municipal waste sorting systemwaste - "collection of bags marked with a barcode from the house", can receive, according to the Municipal Decree on Local Tax

for the operation of the system of collection, collection, transport, sorting, use and disposal municipal waste for each bonus point earned in the previous calendar year CZK 5. For the purposes of this Decree, the value of sorted waste is determined as follows:

■ Sorted paper (bale or bag with a minimum weight of 10 kg) - 2 points

■ Sorted plastics (110 litre bag with a minimum weight of 2 kg) - 3 points

■ Sorted beverage cartons (110 litre bag with a minimum weight of 2 kg): 3 points

The full article "Barcode sorting motivates citizens" about the waste collection system in Chelčičy was published in the magazine Moderní obec (October 2009).