IoT Waste Compactor Monitoring in Iceland with Parallel and Digital Matter

Challenge 

Icelandic suppliers of rental garbage compactors face a persistent daily challenge: relying on slow, error-prone manual checks to determine when compactors need  collection. Missing collections can create hygiene and safety risks, while collecting half-empty units leads to significant wastage of fuel, time, trips, and cost.

Solution 

Parallel designed and delivered an IoT remote monitoring solution, powered by Digital Matter’s G70 4G BLE tracker, to deliver real-time visibility into compactor fill levels, run hours, and error codes.

Outcomes 

Parallel’s IoT waste compactor monitoring solution delivers rental garbage container suppliers with real-time, reliable insights to realise:

• significant cost savings

• improved asset utilisation

• exceptional operational efficiencies

• enhances public safety and hygiene

• better customer experiences. 

In the 2025 Global Waste Index, Iceland ranked as the world’s 29th biggest polluter, with much of its waste ending up in landfills due to limited recycling infrastructure, high processing costs, historical reliance on landfilling, and consumer habits. Since 2016, the country has invested in innovative solutions aligned with EU legislation to improve waste management.

Renting large-scale garbage compactors is a popular choice for Icelandic grocery stores to cut waste volume and mass. Located on-site, compactors press and store up to 1.5 tonnes of waste at the push of a button. Compacted garbage enables grocery stores to enhance landfill efficiency and reduce disposal costs by minimising the number of bins and frequency of collection.

However, rental compactors introduce a simple, persistent operational problem for suppliers: knowing when a unit is full enough for collection. With hundreds of units rented by customers across the country, manual checks proved time-consuming, labour-intensive, expensive, and inaccurate due to limited visibility inside compactors. Trucks travelling to empty compactors that aren't full waste time, fuel, and add wear and tear to vehicles, while missed collections can contaminate local environments and increase hygiene and safety risks.

Why Parallel chose Digital Matter’s 4G G70 BLE tracker to power a real-time IoT garbage compactor monitoring solution.

Parallel designed and deployed an always-on IoT solution that remotely monitors compactor fill levels. The solution uses Digital Matter's rugged G70 4G BLE tracker to deliver real-time asset monitoring. With an IP68 rating and IK08 impact resistance, the G70 tracker can withstand dust, moisture, and vibrations inside a compactor without being damaged. Its flexible inputs and outputs enable straightforward connection to a wide range of compactors, including older models with varying mechanics and voltage requirements.

Daily, the G70 tracker captures and securely sends data on fill levels, run hours based on the compactor’s ignition use, and error codes from compactors via cellular networks to a centralised cloud-based platform. The platform aggregates raw device data and turns it into user-friendly dashboards, giving suppliers fast, reliable visibility into actionable data to schedule collections and maintenance. On-demand device data enables customers to send automated email alerts to operations teams when compactors are at capacity, allowing time to book collection without disrupting grocery store compacting schedules. Similarly, device data is used to issue automated notifications when error codes indicate a compactor needs maintenance or repairs.

Arnar Jonsson, Owner at Parallel, says, "We chose the Digital Matter G70 tracker for its versatility and reliability in challenging environments. Straightforward to install and configure, with minimal maintenance requirements, we know we can add a G70 to any compactor model and it will securely capture and share the insights our customers need to improve operational efficiency and reduce cost."

Real-time IoT monitoring helps Parallel cut waste management costs, optimise fleet usage, and improve customer service across Iceland.

Since deploying Parallel’s IoT asset monitoring solution, Icelandic waste management customers have achieved significant operational gains, including reducing unnecessary collection trips by an average of 200 per month, saving on fuel costs, driver time, and vehicle wear-and-tear. Better utilisation of compactors and collection vehicles has let many customers remove vehicles from service, further reducing operating costs and improving sustainability. Communities are also benefiting. With fewer wasted trips, collection fleets can respond faster to collection requests, preventing garbage overflows at grocery stores and improving safety in local communities.

Jonsson adds, "We’ve been really impressed with Digital Matter. Their expert approach, powerful devices, and deep product knowledge were invaluable to developing our IoT waste compactor monitoring solution. It's amazing to work directly with engineers who understand our use case and how we want to apply their technology. They've made this project straightforward, with a user-friendly platform that works well."