System for tracking waste or recyclable material

A system for tracking waste or recyclable material, the system comprising:

• a plurality of labels for a plurality of batches of material generated at a plurality of originating sites, each label being associated with a corresponding batch of material at a corresponding originating site, each label comprising a corresponding identifier including label information identifying the corresponding originating site or information about the corresponding batch of material;
• a server that is remote from the plurality of originating sites;
• a label reader at a material handling site that is remote from the plurality of originating sites and is capable of reading the corresponding identifier on each label, wherein the corresponding identifier is read if the label is present and the corresponding identifier is readable, the label reader associated with a communications facility for communicating, for each batch of material, either label information read from a corresponding label or information regarding an absence of label information to the server, wherein, for each batch of material, the server uses at least some of the communicated information to determine corresponding label information to be associated with that batch of material, even when label information is absent from that batch of material or unreadable, and in each of the following events:
• (i) an event wherein a same label is associated with multiple batches of material, (ii) an event wherein multiple labels are associated with that single batch of material, and (iii) an event wherein multiple labels associated with multiple batches of material that are in proximity to one another are read together by the label reader, wherein the corresponding label information to be associated with that batch of material includes the originating site or information about the material, and wherein additional information regarding a corresponding amount of material is associated with each batch of material.