Data shared is a problem halved

There's a lot of talk about data these days and it has often been lauded as "the new oil". This is mostly due to the enormous potential value of data. There are obviously a number of ways that data and oil are not alike at all, but it is still an interesting analogy, not because of the lucrative likeness, but because there are other similarities that tell a more cautionary tale. By allowing such a resource to be controlled by a small number of corporations driven by profit, we potentially leave ourselves open to going down the same path we have with oil, where data becomes another misused resource that benefits the few and not the many.

It has been estimated that the data economy in Europe alone reached a value of over EUR335 billion in 2017 and is projected to continue to grow significantly. And it is not just the value of the data itself, but what access to that data can enable. If we allow too much data to accumulate in the hands of private companies whose priority is profit, we risk losing the opportunity to use data to empower and benefit the whole of society.

Data is Power

Because data means knowledge and knowledge equals power. Good data, that is. Poor quality data that is unreliable and badly structured is just a bunch of information of little value to anyone. Good data, on the other hand, is in a form that means you can interrogate it, manipulate it, analyse it, learn from it, and combine it with other datasets. It can transform business processes, increase profits, improve effectiveness and efficiency, and promote competition and innovation.

Waste data is notoriously terrible: patchy, unreliable, and siloed. When we speak to people from other industries, they are amazed that we do not have comprehensive data for commercial and industrial waste. I am shocked that local authorities seem to have to complete a number of different reports and surveys which mostly cover the same information. And I have countless examples of people struggling to access the most basic data to guide them to do the right thing with their waste.

Open Data is Open Power

I also have a few examples of where open data has allowed innovations which have benefitted people and communities when it comes to waste, for example the Leeds Bins App. It is a simple app that reminds people when their bin day is and provides a bit of other basic bin-related information. As it says on the site:

This can happen only because this city is open. Its neighbours, its people, and its businesses support the idea of being open with data and open to innovation.

The app is extremely popular in Leeds. When the people behind it developed it, they envisaged being able to roll it out to all councils that wanted it. Unfortunately, it turns out that a lot of local authorities do not own the data around bin schedules and cannot afford to buy this data back from their waste contractors. There is also an added complication around postcode data, so sadly only a small number of councils have been able to make use of the app. But should not the data around bin schedules belong to all of us? After all, those services are paid for with taxpayer money. Would it not be great if the data were gathered in a standard format and published on the internet for anyone to use, interrogate, combine, and work with?

The concept of open data can cause alarm bells to ring when people misunderstand what it actually is. It does not mean publishing sensitive, identifiable data. The fact that it is possible to have open health data without breaching the NHS's strict information governance protocols proves this. NHS England states that by releasing health data and structuring it for usability and computability, while still protecting privacy, governments and healthcare organisations can use the power of open data to improve the quality of care, lower healthcare costs, and facilitate patient choice.

Releasing open waste data does not mean giving away commercially sensitive information or revealing what I put in my bins, but it will promote transparency, collaboration, innovation, and efficiency. Given the climate emergency we are in the midst of, that is vitally important. We must work together as an industry, and as a wider stakeholder community of waste producers, to develop an open data infrastructure that supports resource efficiency and minimises waste.

Smart Waste Data

Dsposal recently carried out a feasibility study for Defra as part of the GovTech Catalyst Smart Waste Tracking project. There are many benefits to digitally tracking all waste transactions, not least in enabling us to gather this valuable data.

Luckily, it is entirely possible to develop a digital waste tracking system that improves data capture, makes it easier for regulators to have oversight, minimises administrative burden on waste producers and waste companies, and helps us transition to a circular economy. But the new system must go much further than digitising the current system. Simply digitising the paperwork will not work. We need to digitalise the entire waste ecosystem and that means laying the right foundations to ensure that the system works for everyone and does not become prematurely obsolete.

Digitisation and digitalisation are often confused and it is worth being clear on the difference. A good example of digitisation is turning a CD into an MP3 by uploading it to your computer. Digitalisation, on the other hand, is the total revolution that has happened in the music industry with the advent of services like iTunes and Spotify.

Technology is developing at such a pace these days that we cannot know what will be normal in five years. We therefore need to make sure the system is built with flexibility and resilience at its core so it can evolve and adapt. The waste industry is coming late to the tech party in some ways, but that means we can learn from mistakes in other sectors and build something that avoids those earlier pitfalls.

Data Giants

Stories of tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Apple effectively running monopolies that are now so powerful they are hard even for nation states to take on are all too common these days. The government recently commissioned the Furman Review into improving competition in digital sectors and, while waste can hardly be considered part of the digital sector, many of the recommendations are relevant more broadly because data and digitalisation affect almost every industry.

Waste Crime

With serious and organised crime groups' involvement in waste crime steadily increasing, and with the cost of waste crime equating to almost a tenth of the gross value of the industry in the UK, we need to protect any new system from being abused by these criminals. Openness, transparency, and collaboration are important defences against this abuse, whereas monopolies and their closed data sets can be susceptible to corruption.

The recommendations in the Furman Review include the need to develop more open standards, such as the Open Banking Standard which has transformed the banking sector by allowing a whole host of financial apps and services to flourish. This drives innovation, boosts the economy, and provides consumers with better services. Developing open standards means that everyone knows the rules of the game and can choose to participate. As the Government have set out in their Open Standards Principles:

Open Standards are one of the most powerful tools we have to open up government. They make it possible for the smallest supplier to compete with the largest. They make data open for any citizen to audit. They unlock the transformative power of open source software.

Data is a Resource

Building the new system on a foundation of open principles bakes in the resilience and adaptability we need to create a flourishing tech ecosystem that serves the many varied needs of all the actors in the waste industry and minimises the harmful effect that unscrupulous operators can have.

Digital transformation of our sector is happening. It is up to us to come together and champion the open route if we want a system that supports and empowers everyone in the waste and resources chain, from the waste producer to the terminal step. This is a golden opportunity to avoid repeating history and instead opt to open the market up and level the playing field so that whether you are a sole trader, a family firm, or a multinational corporation, you can reap the benefits of a new way of doing things driven by open data and digitalisation. Data is a resource that we all play a part in developing and, unlike what happened with oil, we should all reap the rewards.

Sophie Walker is the COO and Co-Founder of Dsposal, who build integrated digital tools to turn rubbish into resources.

First released in the July 2019 edition of the Recycling Waste World magazine (page 26). Online edition available at this article link.