Safety Connected cameras have dramatically increased safety in waste collection. “Both in the public and private realms, these huge trucks are driving through our cities, but they’re doing it much more safely than they ever used to,” said Phil Lamb, managing director for WasteVision AI, a leading developer of waste exception technology, at the 2025 Routeware Summit. What’s more, research finds this type of technology reduces both accident rates and claim costs when accidents do happen. Related to safety is damage to personal property, such as bumping into a parked vehicle. IoT devices can document driver performance, often providing photo evidence that exonerates the crew from unwarranted damage claims and potential litigation. Data capture can help indemnify local governments or haulers, serving as a low-cost form of insurance. Collection There are few things more frustrating to 311 service reps than hearing, “Hey, you missed my house.” Too often, the customer’s bin isn’t out, and the driver becomes an easy target for a missed pick-up. Not only does the callback waste valuable time for call center and collection crew staff, but the waste collection provider must eat the cost of the return visit. “It’s [the customer’s] word against the driver,” and without image data, it can be challenging to hold residents accountable, said Tiffany Batiste, assistant director for business intelligence and strategic initiatives for the City of Dallas Department of Sanitation Services, at the 2025 Routeware Summit.
The department was experiencing record-high missed collections among its 260,000 residential customers and 156 daily garbage and recycling routes when Batiste joined two years ago. Batiste and her team equipped drivers with tablets to mark exceptions, which is tied to the 311 call center. Missed collections dropped by 35% in the first year alone, the 17-year city official reports, noting the data is now part of a “data lake” administered by the city’s data department. Other city departments have access to the lake, such as the water department, which they leverage for meter readers. That idea of cross-department data sharing is a priority for Moses Tejuoso, the public works director for the City of Atlanta. At the Summit, he shared how his team is working hard to break down data silos. That includes collaborating with transportation teams on road conditions and with the code enforcement team on blight and right-of-way conditions. For example, drivers report rain, sleet, and snow conditions as well as blocked roads and debris, which helps the city’s 311 call center team anticipate changing city conditions.
There are few things more frustrating to 311 service reps than hearing, “Hey, you missed my house.”
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