The smart waste sensor technology market will grow at a CAGR of 22.8 percent until 2028

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of waste collection points fitted with smart waste sensor technology reached 1.25 million worldwide in 2023 (excluding China).

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.8 percent, the number will increase to 3.50 million by 2028. These wirelessly connected fill-level sensors can be either pre-integrated into waste bins and containers, for example as a smart bin offering, or retrofitted on existing collection points. Europe accounts for around 45 percent of the installed base with markets such as the Benelux, France, the UK, Spain and the Nordics in the lead. The installed base in the North American market meanwhile reached 470,000 units in 2023. The Rest of World market excluding China will at the same time have the highest growth rate of 26.8 percent and surpass 700,000 installed sensors in 2028.

After acquiring Compology in late 2022, the US-based provider of managed waste and recycling services RoadRunner now holds the world’s largest installed base smart waste sensors and a market share of 16 percent of the total installed base (excluding China). Waste Harmonics (Keter) ranked second and is one example of that waste brokers and managed service providers in North America to a growing extent utilise proprietary smart waste sensors as part of their offerings. The US-based smart bin provider Bigbelly ranked as the third largest player. Meanwhile, the Norwegian smart waste sensor and software specialist REEN was the leading vendor in Europe and the world’s fourth largest in terms of installed base. The top 10 smart waste sensor technology vendors also included Sensoneo from Slovakia; SmartEnds from Belgium; Waste Vision from the Netherlands; BH Technologies from France; Enevo from the US; and Nordsense from Denmark. Together, the top ten vendors accounted for more than 53 percent of the global installed base of waste collection points featuring smart waste sensor technology. The companies in the market oftentimes focus on specific customer segments and geographies, and therefore face varying degrees of competition from each other.

While municipal smart waste management have been growing robustly in the last few years, private companies are also becoming an increasingly important customer segment for vendors offering smart waste management solutions and the segment is poised for significant growth. “We are still in the early stages of waste generators increasing their focus on sustainability and going forward it will be instrumental for organisations to measure, manage and track generated waste and emissions”, said William Ankreus, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight. Cellular communications remain the most popular connectivity technology choice, accounting for over 80 percent of the connected waste collection points in 2023.

Mr. Ankreus concluded:

“Cellular LPWA technologies (NB-IoT and LTE-M) have improved the overall business case for smart waste sensors and represented a large share of shipments in the last couple of years.”

Due to the sunsetting of 2G and 3G networks in several regions, replacements of existing sensors are also expected to affect the shipment volumes to an increasing extent in the coming years.