![Garbarge truck picking up trash bins on the street](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-10/Untitled%20design%20%2818%29.png?itok=we6RvLvm) # How Roanoke Turned Waste Collection into a High-Tech Success Story Roanoke County is transforming waste collection through a high-tech system of smart sensors, slashing downtime, repair costs, and response times—while setting a new standard for efficient, responsive public services. October 02, 2025 [ Betsy Gardner ](/people/betsy-gardner) One of the most foundational services provided by municipal governments is waste collection. Yet it’s easy to overlook how critical this service is, or how ripe for digital transformation. Roanoke County, Virginia, is revolutionizing municipal waste management with a smart, connected, sensor-informed system. And this universal system is improving safety, savings, and service delivery. ## Seeing the Potential This work started in 2024, two fiscal years ago, when the Roanoke County Solid Waste and Fleet Management Divisions began to explore new technology opportunities. Ashley King, director of General Services, wanted data-collecting devices that could improve decision making and save money, in particular reducing down time and repairs for trash vehicles. In September 2024, after testing the technology, the General Services Department (which houses Solid Waste and Fleet Management) leased Samsara IoT [telematic ](https://faculty.utrgv.edu/mark.chu/Journal/TELE.pdf)hardware that would provide information on truck location, speed, and direction. However, by the fall of 2024, the County was interested in taking this further, by utilizing more specialized sensors. These would provide greater details on specific actions; for example, 1) when a side-loading truck extends an “arm” to pick up a trash bin from the street, 2) when that arm retracts to empty the bin into the hopper, then 3) again when the arm extends to return the bin to the street. This level of detail would help flag if small repairs are needed before they cause major damage, which is especially important for saving money, as towing a trash truck is a major expense. Embed Rather than contract out these services, Roanoke County officials had the opportunity to apply to partner with students from Virginia Tech’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE). As part of the ISE’s Senior Design Program, three seniors joined the General Services Department to take the technology to the next level. They engaged with everyone from drivers to mechanics to the Information Technology team, testing and developing sensors for all types of vehicles and accessory attachments, or peripherals, like the one-arm bandit truck shown above. Their work over the course of the 2024-25 school year revealed important statistics, such as the optimal number of trash bins a truck can pick up before having to go dump (answer: 450 bins). Or how to better protect the trucks’ hydraulic lines from wear and tear (answer: use old fire hoses). ## Visualizing the Data Of course, this data needed to be collected and visualized somewhere to fully realize the time and money savings, and to fully inform decision-making. David Wray, GIS manager for the County, pulled specific data from the Samsara application programming interface (API) and input that information into an Esri GeoEvent Server; this was ground truthed by comparing data collected on-site by field workers. Wray then built out an internal ArcGIS Trash View tool. ![Screenshot of Trash View that confirms resident service at highlighted address](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/2025-10/Confirmation%20of%20Residence%20Service%20with%20Trash%20View%20Arm%20Engagement%20Circle%20and%20Packer%20Engagement%20Star.png) One of the challenges Wray encountered was refining the data. “One truck may have four or five sensors on it,” he explained, which necessitated reconfigurations to show the location, accessory components, and onboard diagnostics. For example, the one-arm bandit truck could have a sensor for the arm and a sensor for the packer, which regularly compacts the trash in the hopper, plus a GPS locational device. Another challenge was managing the sheer volume of data, so Wray’s team set up a separate data store server. With information from the Samsara sensors, the Trash Viewer can show live truck locations, information about the peripheral components like bandit arms, and onboard truck health diagnostics. The General Services team can query by individual trucks, look at each historical trail, current locations, and search for service by parcel or address. ![Screenshot of Trash View showing exact location, speed, and direction of a specific County vehicle](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/2025-10/Zoom%20to%20Current%20Location%20in%20Trash%20View%20for%20SWBD1%20Location%20When%20It%20Was%20On%20Fire.png) ## Realizing the Benefits In the year since the County implemented the sensors, waste management in Roanoke has been transformed. According to Mary Martinez, the General Services Department systems analyst, this work was simply meant to be the first part of a three phase project. Now, the Solid Waste Division is so excited about the technical and data-driven possibilities, there is a new five-part plan for upgrading waste management in the County. The original target in this first phase was to leverage telematics to reduce down time and truck repairs by 10 percent or 3,812 hours, compared to the year before. However, Roanoke County far surpassed that original goal, and reduced down time by more than 11,000 hours. Additionally, due to the ability to identify and address issues early, truck towing was reduced by 72 percent; again, far exceeding the initial goal of 15 percent. This also reduced sublet repair costs by almost double the initial target. Increased employee safety was another critical benefit. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, [waste and refuse collection is one of the most dangerous civilian jobs](https://www.bls.gov/charts/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries/civilian-occupations-with-high-fatal-work-injury-rates.htm#:~:text=Table_title:%20Civilian%20occupations%20with%20high%20fatal%20work,Number%20of%20fatal%20work%20injuries:%20226%20%7C) in the United States. Martinez recounted an incident when an active garbage truck caught on fire, with the driver in the vehicle. After radioing for help, the driver had to evacuate the truck but, thanks to the locational sensors, the dispatch team was able to see where this was and immediately send out first responders. The emergency and fire vehicles were on the scene in less than two minutes, an extremely rapid response that was possible thanks to the connected trucks. Finally, another unexpected benefit was an improvement in customer service. The staffers who handle calls from the public utilize the Trash View app to provide real time information to callers and answer questions. For example, a resident might see a County waste management truck drive by their house without picking up their garbage cans, prompting them to call in. Previously, the staffer would need to collect information from the caller, get in touch with different Solid Waste employees, ask about pick ups in the area, determine which driver and truck were on that route, then finally call the resident back. Now, the staff simply pulls up the Trash View app, sees the truck on that route, and can explain to the caller that the truck that just drove by is the brush pickup vehicle, which picks up yard waste, not trash collection. With the Viewer, the call center staffers can even see where the actual trash collection vehicle is and assure the caller that their bins will be picked up. Thanks to the improved technology, service to constituents has improved significantly; both the number and length of calls to customer service has reduced, and there has been an 85 percent reduction in call backs from staff compared to the three previous years. ![Screenshot of Trash View seen by customer service reps, showing county with locations of all vehicles](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/2025-10/TrashView%20with%20Legend%20of%20Truck%20Current%20Locations.png) Building on the momentum from such a strong start, Martinez and Wray are already looking forward to the next phases — including a potential use case for generative artificial intelligence and a public-facing Trash View dashboard. Roanoke County’s experience demonstrates how connected, data-driven decision making can transform essential public services. As the team moves forward with the next phase, the progress made already serves as a roadmap for smart, safe, and responsive local governments. ## About the Author ### Betsy Gardner ![Headshot of Betsy Gardner](/sites/g/files/omnuum10826/files/styles/hwp_1_1__100x100_scale/public/2025-05/Betsy%20Headshot%20resize.jpg?itok=k2OsSp1g) Betsy Gardner is the editor of Data-Smart City Solutions and the producer of the Data-Smart City Pod. Prior to this, Betsy worked in a variety of roles in higher education, focusing on deconstructing racial and gender inequality through research, writing, and facilitation. She also researched government spending and transparency at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Betsy holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Policy from Northeastern University, a bachelor’s degree in Art History from Boston University, and a graduate certificate in Digital Storytelling from the Harvard Extension School. See also:- [ Asset Management and Sustainability ](/topics/asset-management-and-sustainability) - [ City Administration ](/topics/city-administration) - [ Data Visualization ](/topics/data-visualization) - [ GIS ](/topics/gis) - [ Operations ](/topics/operations) - [ Performance Measurement ](/topics/performance-measurement) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)