Reducing truck mile?
" [The bins] use their embedded phone to call up a truck over Vodafone's GPRS network when they're full, reducing the distance trucks have to drive."
I find it hard to believe in this reduction. Say I fill my bin on Monday, so they send out a truck to empty it. My next-door neighbour fills his on Tuesday, so they send out a truck to empty it. Next-door-but one fills his on Wednesday...
Assuming random bin-filling, they have to send a truck down every street every day, instead of once a week.
Ok, maybe we don't each fill a bin per week, but in a street of any reasonable size, there'll be at least one trip needed per day.
I can only assume they don't in fact empty bins on demand as soon as they are full, perhaps they come once a week and empty only those bins known to be already full, but the saving there would be marginal.