In number of developing nations we generally come across overflowing of dustbins. Due to complete filling of dustbins, the waste overflows and spread in the nearby areas. Due to spreading of wastes, many diseases can happen. Also spilling of wastes causes foul smell.
Sometimes, due to lack of dustbins, wastes are thrown on the ground and sometimes it is burnt in order to reduce its volume. Due to burning, it causes air pollution. In order to curb all these problems, there are several proposals. One of them is IOT based waste management using smart dustbins. IOT is internet of things which means machine to machine communication without human interference.
In this method, multiple smart dustbins provided with unique IDs will placed at various places of a city. The lid of dustbins will be opened automatically when it detects the people who wants to throw the waste. These dustbins are provided with a sensor which keeps tracking the level of waste and weight of waste in the dustbin. When the level of waste in dustbin reaches upto its saturation limit, sensor will detect it and once the dustbins are full, then it won’t allow further addition of waste in it. The device will send the data along with details like weight and unique IDs through internet to the concerned authority. And the concerned authority will send the vehicle to collect the waste from that dustbin.
These dustbins also have LCD screens which will display the location of other nearby smart dustbins in case the former is full. It will also generate voice commands if the user places the waste on the floor. The smell sensors will detect the decaying smell and will sprinkle the harmless chemical. The chemical used is Baking Soda which will further prevent the smell of decaying waste.
Due to this, human effort is minimised. Overspilling of waste is prevented. When the dustbins will be filled then only it will notify the concerned authorities, thus reduces the number of trips of garbage collection vehicle which ultimately saves the fuel cost. There won’t be any chance of corruption or providing wrong data as all the data are recorded by the device and is sent to higher authorities.
Another smart dustbins or rather we should say Garbage ATM, developed by four young men from Nashik. They had built a smart automated waste-bins called the KRRYP Garbage ATM. The whole system is composed of two dustbins and one LCD screen.
The user will be provided with a card which needs to be swiped for the dustbin to work. Once the card is swiped, a general knowledge question will be generated automatically which will have two options viz A and B (A and B are used for the two dustbins). Suppose, user has given option B as his/her answer, then the lid of dustbin B will be opened and the user will throw the garbage in that dustbin. In this way,the system will keep the record of the number of correct answers given by the users. The user with maximum correct answers will be rewarded in the form of coupons or money. This method is really innovative as people will try to give correct answers in order to win the reward and will throw the garbage in the dustbin.
Another proposal is of a “Reverse vending machine”. This type of smart dustbins is already implemented in the countries like Australia,U.S.A,Germany,Norway. Sometimes,along with other wastes, plastic wastes is also thrown which we all know is non-biodegradable. So, it is recycled which is a costly method.Separation of plastic bottles from the garbage requires labour work which means cost and effort.
Sometimes, what happens uncrushed water bottles are thrown in garbage which is collected by poor small children who in turn fill that bottle from the nearby tap which contains contaminated water. And these water bottles are sold by these children in railway stations,bus terminals etc. Drinking water from these bottles is very detrimental for our health.
Due to all this reasons, reverse vending machine is very helpful. These machines will be placed at public places. Instructions of usage of these machines will on the body of the machine. Due to the usage of these machines, manual collection of plastics can be avoided fully. Easier collection of plastic waste and proper disposal of plastic waste will take place. Also after disposal of plastic waste, users will get the opportunity to get rewards in the form of coupons, loyalty points, movie tickets etc. All these will motivate people to use this Reverse vending machine and throw plastic waste into this. Thus, we can say that usage of smart dustbin will make cities smarter and cleaner.
