SmartBin: efficient waste handling based on the internet of things (IoT)

Abstract

In our present society today, it is clearly seen that garbage cans are being placed in open environments because it needs to be accessed by the public. It can be observed that those garbage cans usually get filled up and overflow and litter the environment. Patil (2015) claims that this uncontrolled littering can lead to a gradual encroachment of diseases that can be very harmful to the human health. Littered trash can also produce bad and offensive smell around the surroundings. To tackle this problem, we had to introduce the SmartBin (Efficient Waste Handling) system. In the proposed system, the garbage can will be placed at a location and connected to Wi-Fi or an Ethernet port. The garbage can will also be embedded with an ultrasonic sensor (low cost hardware that will track levels of trash in the garbage cans). As soon as the garbage can get to the threshold limit, an email will be sent to the user that the trashcan is almost filled up. A visual representation is also made available on the local server SmartBin connects to.