Bin Point: smart recycling on the go
Project Motivation
There is an urgent need to improve recycling rates in order to extend the lifespan of Singapore’s only landfill, reduce future costs of waste management, and provide more value for various stakeholders in the circular flow of recyclables. However, recycling rates in the domestic and commercial sectors are presently very low because of high levels of contamination which is primarily caused by incorrect recycling practices by consumers especially in public areas. Moreover, current methods of recycling in Singapore have not been very effective in tackling this problem of contamination.
Therefore, this project aims to design a solution that can increase recycling rates in commercial and domestic sectors by reducing contamination of recyclables. This is achieved by making recycling convenient and engaging to encourage consumers to recycle correctly on the go. It is targeted at consumers in commercial and public areas such as supermarkets, shopping centres, and transit nodes where recycling rates are presently very low but have high quantity of recyclables, in particular recyclable beverage containers such as plastic bottles and aluminium cans.
Design
The proposed solution, Bin Point, comprises a smart bin and a mobile application. The smart bin is a fully enclosed system in order to minimise contamination of the recyclables and prevent intentional misuse. It is designed to automatically classify and sort the recyclables using computer vision and other sensors such as load cells and a capacitive sensor. Items that can be recycled will be stored within designated compartments within the bin, while those that cannot be recycled will be discarded into a separate compartment. Such a design is meant to minimise intentional and unintentional misuse of the recycling bin, which should lead to reduced contamination of recyclables from the users.
The mobile application is used to identify users when they deposit their recyclables into the smart bin. It is also used as a platform to incentivise users by rewarding them with points, which can subsequently be used to redeem actual products or services, when they recycle correctly. The mobile application is designed to engage consumers by enabling them to keep track of their recycling habits through a simple scan-drop-go concept.
A fully functional prototype of the proposed solution was successfully made and tested in this project. Preliminary tests on the prototype showed that it was able to achieve a waste classification accuracy of up to 80%.
Awards
- Faculty of Engineering Innovation & Research Award 2020 (Merit)
Project Team
Students:
- Chen Sipu (Mechanical Engineering, Class of 2020)
- Don Ng Wei Jie (Electrical Engineering, Class of 2020)
- Liu Shengnan (Materials Science & Engineering, Class of 2020)
- Ng Tian Xun (Electrical Engineering, Class of 2020)
- Wee Sang Hui (Electrical Engineering, Class of 2020)
Supervisor:
- Dr Elliot Law (elliot.law@nus.edu.sg)