Waste Management is No Joke in Limerick; Irish whiz kids are digitally revolutionizing waste removal and recycling

“The key is the software, the business process and the overall technology solution,”
said Jimmy Martin, the CEO of Advanced Manufacturing Control Systems (AMCS) Ltd. It is not an observation the average guy in charge of waste removal would be expected to make. But AMCS is not an average waste removal business and Jimmy Martin is no average guy.

Martin and his partner, Austin Ryan, are computer geeks. They look like they ought to be in a computer games design studio. But what they are doing is no game…

“What you’re trying to do is change behavior,” Martin said. “We use the RFID to track the bin, who owns the bin, where it is picked up, what time it is picked up, what weight is in there,” Martin went on in his Limerick brogue, “and to use the information to make sure people are paid for collection, to make sure what waste is going to go back in the truck is legal and valid and then for routing and optimisation of the trucks.”

click to enlarge

The system has been carefully designed to protect all data. But, as Jimmy pointed out in response to the question of whether he had encountered the rumoured organized crime involvement in waste management, this stuff is way over Tony Soprano’s head.

‘Anyone that is successful is very professional,” Jimmy said. “Ten years ago it was a hump and dump business,” he explained. “You sent the bin truck out, you collected all the waste that was in front of you and you took it to a landfill.”

But landfills are no longer tax shelters, they are precious and dwindling resources. They are heavily taxed and regulated, and the stuff that goes into them is sharply limited and carefully monitored.

“Nowadays,” Jimmy said, “You have make sure every cart and piece of material that goes into it, you know who it is, what it is, and you’re getting paid for it.”

That change is driving more and more rigorous attention to what haulers remove and what is recycled. Everything that has value as energy or recycled materials is converted to value and only what can go nowhere else goes to landfills.

AMSC appears on course for enormous success. It is the very definition of doing well by doing good…

Did an interview in the ivy-covered tranquility of the National University of Ireland yesterday. (click to enlarge)

Today's schedule:

Morning: Solar Print Ltd. Beyond solar energy, these folks are trying to get efficient enough to capture any light energy. Star Trek stuff?

Midday: Imperative Energy Ltd.. These folks make the big machines for biomass burning and management. Heavyweights.

Afternoon: Another meeting with Automsoft. It was too big a subject to cover in Tuesday's interview.

Took an afternoon break here yesterday. (click to enlarge)