Preventing Trash Tourism with Smart Bin Access in Portugal

Smart Waste Access Across Portuguese Municipalities

Project and customer description

Enermeter is a Portuguese technology company founded in 2001 and headquartered in Braga. The company develops solutions for metering, machine vision and waste management, supported by its own team of specialised technical professionals.

In cooperation with Sensoneo, Enermeter has deployed smart locks for waste access in Portugal, installing approximately 500 devices on semi-underground and above-ground waste containers. The projects currently serve around 20,000 residents across seven municipalities: Braga, Santo Tirso, Estremoz, Vagos, Torres Novas, Cinfães and Madalena in the Azores.

Each deployment is adapted to the municipality’s size and operational requirements. The shared objective is to control access to waste containers, protect capacity for local residents, prevent unauthorised disposal and provide municipalities with better information about container usage.

Challenge

Municipalities needed to prevent unauthorised use of their waste collection infrastructure. One of the main challenges was so-called “trash tourism”, where people disposed of waste outside their designated collection area. This reduced the container capacity available to local residents and placed additional pressure on municipal collection services.

For biowaste collection, unrestricted access also increased the risk of incorrect disposal. Contamination lowers the quality of collected biowaste and can make its further processing more difficult. Municipalities therefore needed reliable waste access control to ensure that containers were used by authorised residents and for their intended purpose.

At the same time, municipalities wanted better insight into participation and container usage. Data on container openings could help them understand user behaviour, improve waste management efficiency and prepare for PAYT or other controlled-access collection models.

Solution

Enermeter installed approximately 500 Sensoneo smart locks on semi-underground and above-ground waste containers across seven Portuguese municipalities: Braga, Santo Tirso, Estremoz, Vagos, Torres Novas, Cinfães and Madalena in the Azores. The deployments provide controlled container access for around 20,000 residents.

Sensoneo’s Bin Access Management solution (BAM) enables municipalities to restrict container access to authorised users and monitor usage through the number of container openings. This provides operational information about participation, user behaviour and container utilisation.

For biowaste collection, controlled access helps ensure that containers are used only by authorised residents and for the correct waste stream. This reduces the risk of contamination and supports better-quality biowaste collection.

Installation is carried out efficiently by trained Enermeter technicians. Enermeter provides local servicing and field interventions, while Sensoneo’s sales and technical teams offer ongoing support. This cooperation helps resolve occasional issues related to communication, push buttons or temporarily blocked locking mechanisms while keeping downtime to a minimum.

Impact

The deployments have given municipalities greater control over their waste collection infrastructure. By limiting access to authorised residents, the smart locks help prevent trash tourism and preserve available container capacity for local communities.

For biowaste collection, controlled access helps reduce incorrect disposal and contamination, supporting better-quality collected material. Data from container openings also gives municipalities a clearer view of participation and container utilisation.

According to Enermeter, customer feedback has been very positive. Municipalities particularly value the improved access control, the reliability of the solution and the technical support provided during both implementation and everyday operation.

At this stage, the projects monitor usage primarily through the number of container openings. Data confirming a reduction in mixed municipal waste are not yet available. As more information is collected, usage data may be compared with waste collection indicators to evaluate the solution’s longer-term impact.

Key achievements

• Approximately 500 smart locks installed
• Seven Portuguese municipalities covered
• Around 20,000 residents with controlled access
• Deployment on semi-underground and above-ground waste containers
• Better protection of container capacity for local residents
• Prevention of unauthorised disposal and trash tourism
• Lower risk of contamination in biowaste collection
• Operational data based on container openings
• Local installation and servicing provided by Enermeter
• Ongoing sales and technical support from Sensoneo

Future Outlook

As more usage data become available, municipalities will be able to compare the number of container openings with waste collection indicators. This can help evaluate how controlled access influences participation, container utilisation and mixed municipal waste generation over time.

The existing deployments also provide the data and access-control infrastructure needed to support future PAYT or other controlled-access waste collection models. Enermeter and Sensoneo will continue supporting the installed systems to ensure reliable operation and respond quickly to technical or servicing requirements.

Improve Waste Access in Your Municipality

Discover how Sensoneo’s Bin Access Management (BAM) solution can help prevent unauthorised disposal, protect container capacity and provide data on container usage.