Campus Ideaz

Share your Ideas here. Be as descriptive as possible. Ask for feedback. If you find any interesting Idea, you can comment and encourage the person in taking it forward.

Where's My Bin? Waste Disposal made Easier

Where's My Bin? Waste Disposal made Easier

Where's My Bin? Waste Disposal made Easier

Problem Statement and Personal Connect:
From my personal experience, I have always had trouble finding dustbins whenever I had the need to throw away any type of trash at any place outside of my own house. Because of this, I have always needed to keep a hold of the trash until I could find a trashcan at any nearby place, but given the state of waste management in the country, the chances to find one would always be very low, and I would usually end up littering on the streets with no other options left. This is a very common problem, as other than in a few public places like fast-food centers, resturants, malls, etc., it is rather rare to find a bin within your immediate surroundings. In my opionion, this is the actual overarching problem with the majority of cities in our country - the public being unable to find the require mode of waste disposal - that leads to an overall poor living experience. 

Gaps in the Current Market:
1. Municipal bins exist but are hard to locate, and even if found, highly likely that overfilling with trash.
2. Smart City projects use GPS trucks to optimize trash collection, but do not consider the citizen’s side of the problem.
3. Private IoT bins are costly and limited to airports or malls.

My Solution:
The idea I have come up with is a mobile application combined with Internet of Things (IoT) enabled trashcans. The app will display the nearest available dustbins (integrated with your favourite map app of choice, such as Google Maps or Apple Maps) in real time, along with their status (empty, half-full, or full). Sensors placed inside the bins will track waste levels and send the data to the app accessed by the end-user.

Who all Benefit:
1. City residents and commuters, as they are easily able to find the appropraite spots for waste disposal.
2. Municipal corporations, as they gain access to real-time data about which bins need clearing, making waste collection more efficient.
3. Public spaces (campuses, malls, etc.), as they are able to maintain a hygenic environment, boosting reputation.

Why It Matters:
A very practical and everyday problem is the inability to find a conventient way to dispose waste when in a public place. Where's my Bin offers a smart solution to cleaner streets. healthier communities and a better image for cities. Integrating technology with everyday needs enables for responsible waste disposal and supports the vision of cleaner, smarter cities in India.

Technical Details:
Where’s My Bin works by placing IoT sensors inside dustbins. These sensors can detect how full the bin is and send the information to a databaste. The same data is displayed on a mobile app, which helps citizens find the nearest available bin and tells municipal staff which bins need emptying. The app also has GPS integration so bins are visible on a map.

 

 


Votes: 25
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of campusideaz to add comments!

Join campusideaz

Comments

  • Hi Sushanth, your idea is rather interesting. I never thought the trash problem in our country could be managed by tracking systems, like how we track our trains or buses. This would definitely support better waste management while also bringing about a behavioral change in people and motivating them to actively use trash cans. One positive person leads to another, and the ripple effect can be very powerful for long-term city cleanliness. Having a little bit of experience with sensors, I can tell you as much that you must take their battery life into account, because how are you planning to continuously keep changing their batteries?
  • Hi Sushanth, quite exciting what you’ve got here! What I noticed first is how your solution for effective trash management directly addresses efficiency by trying to decrease the time wasted searching for bins, while also simultaneously benefiting the collection staff by lowering the effort inputs required from their side. Try to consider forecasts that can be shown on the app, like it would be great if the app showed estimated fill-times based on usage patterns, so people can predict whether a nearby bin is about to overflow.
  • Great, Sushanth, this feels like such a huge step in the right direction! What a smart way to use technology for solving a daily frustration that is surely experienced by a majority of the population. I think you nailed your idea, because of the decreased mental load on citizens that don’t need to keep looking around for a bin anymore, and eventually carry the guilt of dumping their trash at some random place on the road. Also, do consider user-feedback for bin placements, as the users know best which places need new bins!
  • The clarity with which you’ve explained the trash management problem is what makes your concept stand out, Sushanth. The best use-case for me would be in heavily crowded areas, especially bus stands and train stations, and pretty much all other traffic intensive places where the existing bins are mostly always full. My suggestion to you would be to explore whether municipalities can set automatic pickup alerts through your app, so collection is quicker, given that time is not wasted checking empty bins.
  • This is a thoughtful idea, Sushanth! You know how there are cleanliness drives that are usually held within communities? I always felt like even though it’s a great initiative to build awareness within the citizens’ minds about trash disposal, it always felt artificial, because people would obviously be carrying multiple trash storage containers, which is very much not the real-life scenario. Hence, I feel like this would be the closest we can get to convenient waste disposal, making citizens feel more connected to the idea of keeping our society clean. One practical hurdle I can see is the durability of sensors in outdoor conditions like rain and dust, but maybe it isn’t much of an issue at all if handled effectively. Good luck with your project!
  • Great job in coming up with an idea that combines environment betterment with citizen convenience. What I find exciting is how we could, at some point after enough development, integrate your application's database with city-wide apps that already show bus timings or water supply schedules. Not only will this improve the visibility of your own app, but could act as a super app for citizens where they can find a variety of details regarding the city at a single place. Keep in mind the standards during development though, as to integrate your app within other apps would require you to be following a set of standards.
  • Hi Sushanth, seems like an impactful concept. It's nice that your app has the capacity to reduce littering during job commuting, because that is when I personally feel a lot of unintended littering takes place. I also feel (if you don't mind monetizing your idea), you could also enable reward systems for local shopkeepers if they promote nearby bins, and finance it through occasional ads (keep it user-preferential, by which only the supporters will see rare ads). One challenge that may have been pointed out by others earlier is the fact that in a lot of rural-urban border areas, there may be bins without reliable network coverage, which could affect real-time accuracy.
  • Hey Sushanth, I think your idea has strong potential for civic use, especially because of how it makes waste management more transparent. Thinking about it, NGOs could use the app to track whether or not bins in some said locality are regularly serviced. I just want you to keep in mind that when it comes to the UI/UX design for the app, ensure that it can be used by one and all, because you do not want to loose out on potential users only because they found it too difficult to use!
  • Great though process, Sushanth! I find this to be a great use of IoT and mapping. If we notice, not only does your idea improve public hygiene but could also support research in the long run. This may seem far-fetched, but the collected data might highlight which neighborhoods consistently prove to be poor at waste-management by tracking the frequency with which the bins are filled. This information would help in ensuring that those specific communities are focused on and multiple awareness drives could be conducted. However, the only concern that I see is that users may be vary of any GPS data storage, given that it primarily runs off their location.
  • Hi Sushanth, it's great that this project focuses on making cities cleaner in a simple, user-friendly way. One benefit that I can think of is how it could help delivery workers who are constantly on the move and rarely find time to look for a bin. Keeping them in mind, I think a possible challenge be the battery drainage caused by the app, so making sure the app doesn’t cause too much mobile data or battery drain would definitely encourage frequent use.
This reply was deleted.