SmartBin is an IOT enabled garbage bin which enables efficient waste management for cities. This project was a regional winner in Hackathon 2015, an annual competition organized worldwide by Microsoft for their employees.
ROLE
CLIENT
Designer, Developer
Microsoft
India has a population of 1.2 billion. In a typical city, the population is around 1 million. Due to the high population and a general disregard for cleanliness, we see garbage lying around everywhere. For every zone, we have around 40 public bins. On a typical day, a garbage bin collects 12 kg of waste, which is cleaned twice a week. As a result of untimely collection, we often see overflowing garbage bins. This is very unhygienic and becomes a hotspot for the spread of diseases.
Keeping in mind India's government campaign of 'Swacch Bharat' to promote a clean, healthy India, what is needed is not only a change in people's mindset toward cleanliness, but also full support in terms of technology and infrastructure. Hence, ‘SmartBin’ was conceptualized as an IoT-enabled waste management solution.
The solution is a complete system that includes IoT-enabled garbage bins, mobile apps, and cloud connectivity. IR sensors are embedded in the garbage bins to detect when the bin is 80% full. A signal is sent to the cloud, and an alert is generated on the SmartBin application. This application serves as a hub for all the bins installed in the area and indicates whenever a bin is full. The app is installed at the municipal division, and in this case, we focused the solution on Hyderabad. The SmartBin application would be accessed by GHMC waste management officials, who would then send vehicles to collect the garbage. Each vehicle driver has their own mobile application, which provides directions to the bin in need of collection.
At the end of each week or month, a full range of analytics can be viewed, which helps in identifying areas with the highest amounts of garbage, and builds potential solutions around it. This data would provide valuable insights to help the city manage its waste efficiently.
This solution was conceptualized, prototype, presented within a limited timeline of 3 days for the annual event for Microsoft worldwide - Hackathon.
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