SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

Seoul, the South Korean capital, is home to almost half of the country’s resident population alongside hundreds of thousands of expats.

Faced with such high levels of urban density, city officials were also tasked with controlling high amounts of waste and the expense of continual rubbish collection required to keep the streets clean.

City officials turned to Ecube Labs which developed a smart litter system that not only informed waste disposal staff of when bins were reaching overflow levels but also when recycling outlets were about to do the same.

The cubes were installed in city centers. Seoul’s public sanitation unit was able to remotely monitor the status of bins and tailor collections accordingly.

After three months, waste overflow was eradicated and there was a significant reduction of litter on the streets. Collection costs have been reduced by 83%, a 66% reduction in waste collection has been achieved, and the percentage of trash diverted to recycling initiatives jumped to 46%.

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Cities can use smart technologies to improve some key quality-of-life
indicators by 10 to 30 percent.