IoT Based Garbage Monitoring and Management System
Cleanliness is an important factor in a healthy environment. Increasing the population has resulted in an increasing demand for things as well as increasing levels of pollution. This, in turn, results in increasing garbage and decreasing cleanliness. Managing garbage is one of the key issues for society.
Garbage issues need to be considered seriously for maintaining the cleanliness of our cities.
Many city areas still do not have public garbage bins and so the garbage is thrown on the roadside or at some corner in the locality. Garbage is also thrown in small water reservoirs or drainage water, which creates blockages.
In the rainy season, these blockages result in water overflowing on to the roads. In some areas, this overflowing water blocks all transport or causes small floods within the city.
Open garbage containers pose problems for the people living in that vicinity as it becomes a breeding ground for germs and insects like mosquitoes, which spread numerous diseases.
In many areas, garbage bins are not cleaned and maintained regularly. These open garbage areas create unhygienic conditions in those areas.
Image Credit: Blockages floods
To overcome these hygiene problems, smart waste management & monitoring systems should be adopted. For adoption of these smart systems, there should be a paradigm shift towards the “Internet of things” i.e. IoT technology.
Smart systems will help in optimising the garbage management system and also in reducing the consumption of fuel by the current system.
Image Credit: Wastebin Overflow
Some projects on smart garbage management & monitoring system have been implemented using IoT technology and they have been proved to be very effective in addressing environmental issues.
These projects are based on IoT devices such as Ultrasonic sensors, M2M technologies, smart trash cans & much more.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is shaping & touching our lives in every sphere. IoT garbage management and monitoring system is an innovative project idea for maintaining the clean environment of the city.
Image credit: Smart Bin Sensor with Monitoring
These are some of the project ideas being discussed and implemented.
1. Garbage bins with Ultrasonic Sensors placed on the lid which detect the garbage level in the bins. This can monitor the garbage bins and the monitoring information can be obtained from the webpage.
The level of the garbage in the bin is compared against the depth of the bins. The level of the garbage collected in the bins will be shown on the LCD display.
The bins have been set with a limit. Once the garbage in the bin reaches the set limit, the buzzer gets pressed which further sends an alert to the user to empty the bin.
This system comprises of AVR family Microcontroller, Wifi-modem, LCD display along with a buzzer and a 12V transformer associated with it.
The WiFi-modem is used to send data and the garbage status will be shown on the webpage. The webpage displays the information in a graphical format and the garbage level will be displayed in different colours.
The graphical representation is provided by the IoT Gecko web development platform. A Smart bin sensor with monitoring software is one of the best options in Garbage Management. In Barcelona, Spain, sensors are placed on the lids of recycling bins, which send an alert when the bin is full.
2. An IoT based garbage monitoring & management system project is being successfully tested in one of India’s smart cities – GIFT City(Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) near Ahmedabad. A smart solid waste management system is put in place using Swiss Technology, where the garbage will be disposed of with minimum human interference. The waste will be recycled to make organic manure, which will generate power for GIFT City. 
Image Credit : GIFT
The solid waste is collected from the towers and sent to a collection center using vacuum suction pipes. The waste will travel through the underground pipes at a speed of 110-140 km/hr.
The speed & direction of the waste will be monitored & controlled by a fully computerized console. “A trial run of this project was successfully conducted at GIFT City and further improvements will be done”, said Managing Director of GIFT City Ramakant Jha. He also said, “The organic waste will be incinerated using plasma technology”.
This incinerator has a capacity of 50 tons per day which will gradually increase to 400 tons per day as the occupancy increases. The energy generated by this incinerator will be used to generate Thermal Energy for consumption within the city.
Image Credit : Waste to Energy Process
Waste garbage management companies should address environmental concerns, which, in turn, can improve efficiency and reduce costs from initial collection to processing and landfill management. The use of sensors can help in all these areas by automating tasks such as monitoring & sorting waste. 
Image Credit: Smart Bins
Sensors & lights indicating when trash & recycling bins are full can result in cost savings. After garbage collection, it is sorted at the central location. Sensors can sort paper, plastics, valuable metals, etc. as demonstrated by TOMRA, a provider of sensor-based sorting solutions.
This facilitates reuse/recycle of waste by different means such as converting it to fuel. This reduces the waste sent to the landfills.
Sensors can manage the landfills through perimeter sensors that monitor and ensure that surrounding areas comply with the Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for groundwater contamination.
This is how IoT technology has been used innovatively in waste management and monitoring systems. It has also been helpful in generating energy and revenue. It can be aptly said that IoT technology brings out the “Best from Waste”.
Clean City Green City Smart City!
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Editor: Nikita Govil
