Segregation of waste is thefirst and most important step in waste management and environmental preservation. It allows for better disposal of waste and encourages more recycling and reuse of matter. Lack of segregation is the root cause of clogged landfills, blocked drains, soil and water pollution and can hinder the entire process of waste disposal, recycling and reuse. To reduce the effort required to segregate waste, many cities and airports have employed bins with partitions for different types of waste. It has, however, failed to work, since users do not take the effort to dispose of the waste correctly.

We essentially need a way of to segregate waste without human intervention. We propose a smart dustbin which does the above-mentioned task. The dustbin segregates waste into 3 categories: Recyclables ( Plastic, paper and glass), Metals and Organic Waste. These dustbins require minimum modification to the existing bins. The dustbin can separate multiple wastes at a time and has built-in features to detect when the waste bin is nearing collection in order to alert the concerned authorities to empty the bins.

An air separation mechanism (Brushless DC motor and a propeller) separates the falling waste items based on their density and force exerted by moving air. For detecting the entry of waste, a Laser-LDR pair is used at the bin mouth. The separated waste will be collected in a separation zone. The location of the waste in the separation zone is determined using a camera with the help of Image Processing. The camera is mounted above the separation zone and identies the location of the waste in the zone. The coordinates of each waste is then used to push the waste individually out of the separation zone for identication and segregation. The waste is pushed out of the separation zone with the help of an arm mounted on a servo motor. After this, the waste is pushed one at a time into the waste collector. The waste is then identied with the help of a Capacitive and Inductive Proximity sensor. The capacitive sensors help detect organic waste whereas the Inductive Sensor detects metallic waste. A waste item which is not detected by either of the two sensors will be categorized as Recyclable waste (i.e glass, paper and plastic).

The dustbin is divided into 3 compartments- Recyclables, Metal and Biodegradable waste. The waste collector is common in both classication and disposal mechanism. Here, the waste collector works as a carrier of specied garbage to its respective bin. The waste collector is mounted on a lead screw with the help of a servo motor. Once the waste is identied, the waste collector moves the waste to its appropriate bin with the help of the lead screw.

Estimated impact of Smart Bin:
-7.5% reduction in amount spent daily on disposal of waste
-7.5% reduction in total waste sent daily to landfills
-1.2 lakh rupees generated daily from recycling plastics only
-Break even period of 2.5 years