Dive Brief:

• Waste tech company Rubicon Global announced its RUBICONSmartCity technology is now available for procurement through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) marketplace. As of this week, 25 cities have integrated the technology.
• Rubicon's SVP of Policy and Strategic Initiatives Michael Allegretti explained to Smart Cities Dive that this latest update gives city governments the ability to purchase the waste technology "with one click" by way of their existing contracts with AWS. "Nothing is different about the customer experience," he said.
• The tech offerings are broken down by city size (1-20,000 households, 20,001-50,000 households, 50,001-100,000 households, 100,000+ households), but Allegretti explained Rubicon "will work with cities on a case by case basis, as needed, and create a bespoke offering if the template one does not work specifically for them."

Dive Insight:

As cities become smarter, traditional operations such as waste and recycling collection will need to adopt technological advancements to keep up. This need to digitize sanitation operations has enabled RUBICONSmartCity to see steady growth since its original pilot programs launched in early 2017. And with the advancement of technology comes efficiency and cost savings. Rubicon disclosed that Atlanta, one of the first cities to be introduced to the RUBICONSmartCity tech, reported a cost savings of $700,000 in the first six months of its pilot, as well as 4,700 metric tons of CO2 saved, all from optimizing waste and recycling routes and reducing maintenance costs.

While Atlanta is a fairly large city with a population of about 486,000, Allegretti touts Rubicon's existing partnerships with smaller cities like West Memphis, AR (population of about 25,000). "I think there’s often a misconception that in order to be a smart city and to have access to game changing technology and the latest thing, you need to be big," he said. "And that’s categorically false. You need to be fast and you need to be willing to innovate."

Outside of the RUBICONSmartCity platform, Rubicon has been developing other innovations that can alter how cities and sanitation employees can manage their waste operations. The company has teamed up with Georgia Tech to design an exoskeleton for waste collectors to wear for safety and health improvements, and the company has also filed a patent for a fully autonomous collection vehicle.

Moving forward, Allegretti says Rubicon's next focus is continued accelerated growth. "Our biggest business challenge is keeping up with the demand that we're getting from cities so it's an open question: Will being part of the AWS Marketplace help to accelerate that growth? I believe it will."