Case Study: Athens-Clarke County achieves 58% higher fuel efficiency, safer routes, and paperless operations with Samsara

Athens-Clarke County - Customer Case Study

Athens-Clarke County Solid Waste Department serves more than 130,000 residents (plus ~40,000 students) across 117 square miles with a lean team of 65 employees and 40+ vehicles running 24/7. Faced with a mixed fleet of automated collection trucks, front-loaders, boom trucks and electric passenger vehicles, the department needed to consolidate three fleet vendors into a single platform to improve routing, safety, maintenance visibility, and back‑office efficiency.

By adopting Samsara’s Vehicle Gateways, dashboard, route playback, Proximity Search, mobile forms and digital DVIRs — plus driver safety scores and gamified incentives — Athens-Clarke County cut unnecessary turnarounds, proved service for customer disputes, went paperless, and added COVID‑era health checks. Results included a 58% increase in fuel efficiency and a 19% drop in fuel use (~$6,000 saved in six months), ~$1,920 in additional annual revenue, three hours/week saved on admin, a 56% reduction in unsafe DVIRs, a 50% drop in harsh driving events and average safety scores rising from 79 to 91 — outcomes that helped earn the department Samsara’s 2020 Top Fleet Award.

Athens-Clarke County

Suki Janssen

Director of Solid Waste