IoT Waste Management Conversion Kit

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) pickup service is often inefficient in city parks due to irregular usage. During periods of low usage, the trashcans may be nearly empty, but during holidays and special events the trashcans may quickly become overfull, creating an unpleasant sight and attracting vermin, pests and insects. Toward a smart city infrastructure, the objective of our project was to develop and test prototypes of trashcans for parks that would automatically detect when they were almost full and send a message to the MSW management server to initiate trash pickup for that site. The system used both ultrasonic and weight sensors to gauge fullness of the trashcan, was controlled by a microcontroller, communicated with a mesh network, and was powered by a battery that was recharged with solar panels. The testing of the prototype system appeared to hold promise for further development. Such a system would improve efficiency, public health and quality of public parks.