130 intelligent bins arrive in Bergamo, capable of “compacting” paper and plastic up to five times compared to the original volume, to encourage even those passing by to separate waste collection. They will be placed in the strategic and most frequented places (including by tourists), from the Upper Town to the center of the lower town, passing through the stadium.The tender for the purchase was published by the Municipality of Bergamo, an expense of 780 thousand euros financed by the Pnrr. And it’s not the only one linked to the waste cycle. There is also a second tender for 295 thousand euros for the purchase of 50 above-ground ecological islands, always intelligent, where “WEEE” waste can be disposed of, therefore old mobile phones and PCs, small household appliances, from irons to microwave ovensI. These will be placed in monitored places, such as schools, parks, oratories, sports centers and shopping centres.
Over a million euros therefore comes from Europe to improve street waste collection, with a benefit already translated into numbers. According to the municipal offices “improvements in terms of separate waste collection of 10.5% are expected in 2026 compared to 2019”. The smart bins project, with compactor and sensors that report their filling to operators via app, is part of the broader plan to achieve climate neutrality by 2030 (plan of which Bergamo is part together with 111 other cities selected by the European Commission). And, the municipal technicians explain in the report sent to obtain the Pnrr funds, «one of the sectors in which the Municipality believes it must invest in order to have a considerable benefit in terms of reducing climate-altering gases is that of waste and its cycle management”. There are no certain times regarding the arrival of the new devices, but the two tenders aimed at companies in the sector expire between 4 and 5 July.
The smart bins arrive after the first five ecological islands positioned in the city center (from Piazza Pontida to Colle Aperto). Unlike the other 3,450 bins already present, the new containers will be equipped with technological devices (among curiosities, the possibility of emitting sounds or vocal messages after use). Both the bins and the ecological islands will have sensors to control the filling volume, “to guarantee the availability of the disposal and optimize emptying”, we read in the assignment decision. As regards the bins, the presence of the compactor will reduce the number of passages of the service vehicles, thus reducing CO emissions2 (with fuel savings). In the requests to the supplier, the Municipality requires the presence of the sensors (also for the WEEE islands), with notification via an information alert regarding the need for emptying: «The data detected – we read in the decision – are automatically sent to a cloud platform for the remote monitoring of the filling status. The system is also accessible to operators via a dedicated app.” Particular attention to safety, a non-trivial fact especially for the islands, which have a certain size: «The compacting press is equipped with an anti-intrusion system and the emptying door is accessible exclusively to the operator via a special card». While the smart bins will be free to use, the WEEE waste collection areas will be equipped with a recognition device“thus allowing – it is mentioned in the decision – to manage collection campaigns and introducing possible reward mechanisms”.
