Clever waste logistics halves transport in Amsterdam
In Amsterdam the first step was taken towards completely carbon neutral waste transport. Under the direction of TNO and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, SUEZ and Renewi have succeeded in making the waste transport in Amsterdam more sustainable. During a pilot they were able to cut the transport by more than half and reduce the CO2 emissions considerably. An efficient collection system was deployed for the local recycling of organic waste along with the transport using an electric box truck.
Fewer transport
The pilot was initiated by a number of large companies in Amsterdam. The aim of the pilot was to examine whether it was possible to reduce the number of transport movements by consolidating the collection of separated waste flows. In order to realise this, waste processing companies SUEZ and Renewi combined their transport flows in the pilot, resulting in a more efficient collection of industrial waste. In addition to conceiving the concept, TNO also analysed the data, ensured that the pilot got off the ground and then supervised it.
Electric box truck
SUEZ collected all the organic waste, oils and greases, glass and coffee cups using an electric box truck that was specially deployed for this pilot. Organic waste was recycled locally at Rotie in Amsterdam. Renewi organised the transport of paper and cardboard using a EURO 6 truck, which is currently the most sustainable variant. By combining the flows of SUEZ and Renewi, fewer kilometres needed to be driven. This was quite a special collaboration between the two competitors. Together they reduced the number of transport kilometres for the organic waste, oils and greases, glass and coffee cups from 51,000 to 16,700 km. The CO2 emissions were reduced from 15.9 tonnes of CO2 per year to zero. There is as yet no sufficient data available to draw any conclusions from the paper and cardboard route.
Registration of separated waste flows
The customers of SUEZ and Renewi have been closely involved in the pilot. Using the CoMyCo (“collect my container”) app developed by TNO, they indicated each day how much waste they had per waste stream. A record was also kept of the loading percentage of the trucks: approximately a quarter of the space was left unused. The aim for the future is for companies and organisations to indicate how much waste they produce for each waste stream. This will allow SUEZ and Renewi to calculate a more efficient route along participating parties. They will then no longer collect the waste on set days, but only once the containers are full. This reduces the amount of noise nuisance and traffic. Certainly in large cities, which are becoming increasingly busy and full, this will become ever more important.
On the way to carbon neutral waste transport
The parties involved in the pilot are: ABN AMRO, CSU, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, ING, Johan Cruijff ArenA, Nationale Nederlanden (previously Delta Lloyd), Vattenfall (previously NUON) and UMC-Amsterdam (AMC location). Together they realised 17 waste collection locations in Amsterdam.
For the participating parties this pilot showed it is possible to carry out waste transport in a much more sustainable manner. If successful, they would like to implement this approach throughout the Netherlands. Companies are working on a better separation of waste within the organisation so that in the future more waste flows can be collected in this way.
The first step towards carbon neutral waste processing has hereby been taken in Amsterdam. All the parties involved are now working on the next steps.
The Renewi collection vehicle near the Amsterdam Arena