Interactive Smart Recycling Bin

blueprint
outside
sensors

Inspiration

In singapore we have realised that the most prominent of wastes come from food containers, most of which could be recycled. We also realised that although recycling is highly advocated in Singapore it is often done wrongly, resulting it more waste; examples are not rinsed plastic bottles.

As such we created a smart bin to reward recycling and this was inspired by a reverse vending machine.

What it does

The machine only powers the NFC scanner as well as the LCD at rest

So firstly, it involves a touchscreen whereby a user can tap on it, and a lid will open. and the machine will power on.

Users can then place items they wish to recycle onto the trapdoor which is closed then close the lid and press OK.

There will be a camera scanner to scan if the items in the machine are valid items for recycling or not

If the items are valid, the trapdoor will open and the items will be recycled, if not the system will prompt the user to open the lid again then take out the invalid items.

The success/ non success result will be indicated via a Red/ Green light

Next, the user can choose to tap their membership card onto the NFC scanner allowing for them to identify themselves and collect points. The NFC will send a data entry to an excel/sharepoint of the machine operators for data logging.

Whereas the machine will now process the items

moving on to the depth sensor, the machine uses a light sensor as well as an Light Dependent Resistor to measure the amount of items in the bin. the sensor is placed at a height limit, and once items cross that height limit, it will be determined as full and a message will be prompted to the operators to come collect the waste.

points are given to user per item and they can choose vouchers to claim, if not they can choose to end their session.

How we built it

We used, Recyclable Cardboard, Tape, markers, glue, ESP32, breadboard, wires, arduino

Challenges we ran into

Depth sensor may break which may result in failure of collecting waste when full, leading to ineffiency high machine maintenance cost camera sensor accuracy may not be constant leading to items being wasted.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

we were able to come up with a fun way and rewarding way to encourage recycling aside from its current benefits.

We were able to come up with an easy to implement and low cost solution for school, households and workplaces.

We were able to build a model to showcase our product which is easily used by people due to the similar nature to current bins allowing for better user experience.

What we learned

we learnt a cost effective way to ensure sustainability in the people of singapore we were able to learn how to prototype and test effectively being new to esp32 and arduino, we were able to harness its technology to help in our solutions

What's next for Interactive Smart Recycling Bin

we can work with NGO or Organisations to help gather more funding for expansion. as due to the contributive nature of our business, we will be able to garner more media coverage which can help us to have more fundkng from sponsors and other companies.

we can expand to places such as campuses and malls