THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A SMART WASTE BIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

As people are getting smarter, so are things. While the thought of Smart cities came up, also requirement for Smart waste management. It is common to witness garbage spilled over in and around dustbins. An improperly maintained dust bins can house disease spreading animals. The environment around such dustbin is also conducive for increasing the pollution level of the city. The aim of this paper is to design a smart dustbin for proper disposal of waste without human intervention by providing a smart technology for waste system monitoring, reducing human time, effort, and intervention. This was achieved through a waste bin integrated with a microcontroller-based Arduino board, interfaced with ultrasonic sensors, servo motors, liquid crystal displays and Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) modem. The Arduino microcontroller is programmed using Arduino C which measures the height of the dust bin using the ultrasonic sensors. The lid of the dustbin automatically opens whenever an object comes near the dustbin and after certain period, the lid will close. Once the waste gets to the pre-set level, the microcontroller activates the GSM modem to send a message to a designated number. The status of the waste in the bin is transferred to the designated line and also displayed on the LCD attached to the bin.The replacement of the traditional waste bin with smart waste bin will help in efficient management of waste by assuring that filled waste bin are emptied when the pre-set value is exceeded. This also helps in reducing the time involved in checking the status of the waste bin and number of trips embarked by the waste collection vehicle; thereby the total expenditure associated with the collection is minimized and eventually helps to maintain cleanliness in the environment. Therefore, the system makes the waste collection more efficient. The combination of intelligent waste monitoring and other technologies in production of smart dustbins are better and shoulders above traditional garbage dustbin.

KEYWORDS Arduino Microcontroller, Passive Infrared Sensor, Smart waste bin, waste management, smart city