In collaboration with NYCC’s digital transformation team and the waste management division in Harrogate, the engagement encompassed technical discovery, full platform development, and phased rollouts. Ongoing feedback from waste management staff and operatives directly influenced several rounds of usability improvements.

The platform developed included:

• A web dashboard for live data visualisation and bin status notifications.
• Geographic tagging and area-based reporting features.
• Remote over-the-air configuration of devices.

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The rollout adopted a "test and learn" approach, commencing in Harrogate before expanding to other regions. This phased strategy allowed for iterations based on real-world usage. Feedback covered aspects from platform UX to practical considerations, such as GPS reliability across various mobile phone models and the limitations of using personal devices.

Given NYCC's previous structure of smaller councils, the system was rolled out by sub-region. This decentralised approach aligned with the operational structure on the ground, providing flexibility for local teams.

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We partnered with North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) to design and build a complete smart waste monitoring system that would reduce unnecessary bin checks, cut fuel usage, and support NYCC’s wider climate and efficiency goals. This was part of a broader drive to modernise services across a geographically vast and diverse area, as well as helping educate NYCC’s change management, digital transformation and waste management teams on the latest smart technologies. 

At the project’s outset, the technology was early in its maturity with only the sensor hardware available and no existing platform to support its deployment or extract usable insights from the data.

We designed and developed a bespoke end-to-end solution, integrating sensors with a modern web and mobile platform capable of decoding, geo-tagging, and visualising real-time waste data. This allowed NYCC to transition from reactive waste collection to a data-informed approach.

Broader Impact and Future Relevance

The learnings from this project continue to inform Parallax’s broader IoT and smart city initiatives, including:

• Air quality monitoring,
• Smart parking and traffic counting,
• CO₂ tracking for inflatables and temporary installations,
• Smart street lighting and utility monitoring.

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NYCC’s project demonstrated the importance of platform usability, change management, and hardware selection when delivering public-sector IoT initiatives. It also showed how meaningful pilots can unlock long-term transformation.

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LoRaWAN

Long-range communication between bin sensors and gateways, LoRaWAN is especially power efficient, enabling sensor battery life of up to 10 years while staying security focused, offering 128 Bit AES encryption.

At this stage we had engaged with Nynet (NYCCs commercial ISP arm) to assist with its county wide LoRaWAN network, so this project was a great fit for this new infrastructure.

PHP & Laravel

Used for the core backend platform to manage data ingestion and logic. The same PHP application hosted the browser based user interface using Filament PHP, and leaflet.js handling mapping. We also decode binary payloads at the PHP layer.

While javascript codecs are common today, the sensors were so new, no existing codec was available. Using documentation provided from BrighterBins we developed a PHP codec which takes in the bytes from the LoRaWAN uplink and transforms it into usable data.

We also developed a command line tool to encode configuration payloads which were sent over the air to the device. This meant we could apply settings to devices while in the field for operational improvements and testing and learning.

Mobile App (iOS/Android)

We needed a solution to record exactly where each device was deployed for mapping, so we developed a mobile application that took advantage of three key smartphone features - cellular connectivity, camera and GPS.

We knew from discussions with the waste team that they would be used on a wide range of devices, so the app was developed using Expo for cross platform support.

Ultrasonic Sensors to Laser ToF Sensors

Initially we used BrighterBins ultrasonic sensors as they were the only sensors available at the time from them. While the pilot programme was running, the manufacturer brought a laser-based sensor to market which was much more precise.

We added support for this new type of sensor to the platform while maintaining backward compatibility with ultrasonic, and new deployments used the laser sensors.

Security 

Security and data integrity were vital, especially as sensor data was transmitted across public and private networks. Our approach included:

• Encrypted data transmission from LoRaWAN gateways to the backend,
• User authentication for both the mobile app and web platform,
• Secure data storage and processing,
• Hosting within an ISO 27001-certified environment, reflecting Parallax’s own commitment to secure-by-design principles.

Outcomes / Impact 

The platform demonstrated the power and potential of sensor-led bin monitoring across a large, sparsely populated county. Specific benefits included:

• Reduced need for manual bin inspections,
• Lower emissions from fewer vehicle trips,
• Insight into optimal waste collection routing based on real-time data,
• A deeper understanding of how to deploy and manage LoRaWAN infrastructure at scale.

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The pilot met its primary goal: proving that smart waste monitoring could be implemented in NYCC’s unique environment. As part of the handover, we delivered a full walkthrough of the platform architecture and codebase access, enabling the council to learn from.

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