Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES 2020)

IEEE Conference Record # 48766; IEEE Xplore ISBN: 978-1-7281-5371-1

Arduino based Automated Domestic Waste

Segregator
T.M.B.Shankar Balu*, R.S.Raghav*, K.Aravinth, M.Vamshi, M.E.Harikumar, Rolant Gini J
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, India
shankarbalu.1999@gmail.co m, raghav99rs@gmail.com, aravinthk1824@gmail.co m, vamshimadhavan2710@gmail.co m,
me_harikumar@cb.amrita.edu, j_rolantgini@cb.amrita.edu

Abstract—India is the second largest populated country in the
world. With rapid urbanization, the amount of waste generated
in urban areas has increased tremendously leading to a major
concern. Most of them are dumped in landfills directly without
proper treatment and segregation. This practice leads to a lot of
problems. Groundwater gets contaminated. These landfills act as
a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, rats and stray dogs.
Conservancy staff and rag pickers who are exposed to these
landfills develop a lot of health problems. To address this issue,
segregation should be done at various levels. The important level
of segregation is the source itself. Even primitive segregation at
the households could be a turning point in the waste management
of the country. The economic value of waste is unexplored in the
country. In this article, an automated waste segregator is
proposed that segregates the waste into wet and dry waste at the
household level using capacitive proximity sensor and inductive
proximity sensor, which also detects the bin filling status.
Keywords—waste segregation, capacitive proximity sensor,
inductive proximity sensor, wet,dry
I. INT RODUCT ION
Waste management needs immediate attention in India. It is
facing a huge crisis in the collection, segregation, treatment,
and recycling of waste. The current waste management
practices in India are highly inadequate and inefficient. The
collected waste is dumped into landfills which results in
groundwater pollution [1], [2]. When the landfills lack space,
the waste collected is burnt which leads to the release of toxic
gases that affect the quality of air causing respiratory problems
like asthma in humans. These toxic gases also contribute to
global warming which is a grave matter of concern.
It is estimated that the amount of biodegradable waste
generated is more than half of the total waste generated in the
country. If this waste could be segregated and properly treated,
it could open a new horizon for the country. Segregation of
waste will make the task of collection easier for the local body
authorities. Manual segregation requires a lot of manpower and
is not commercially viable.
Manual waste segregation can never be used at the
preliminary level since it can indulge in severe health problems
for the people involved in it. In the urban areas, rag pickers are
involved directly as they expose their bare hands while
collecting waste from public garbage bins and landfills making
them vulnerable to health risks [3], [4]. Segregation of waste at
the source level (even if it is primitive segregation) is the
solution to the country’s waste management crisis [5]. It would
open a new horizon for further treatment and recycling of
waste.
Dry waste comprises of paper, metallic waste, plastic, etc. -
anything which can be kept for quite a long time. Wet waste
comprises of organic material like vegetable peels and fruit
waste which can be made into compost. The treatment of wet
waste could produce compost and biogas. Biogas could be used
as an alternative renewable source of energy which can be used
in households [6]. It is a cleaner fuel compared to fossil fuels.
Since it is a low-cost fuel, it can be used by many poor
households for cooking. The compost obtained in the treatment
of wet waste could be offered to farmers at a cheaper rate. This
could reduce the use of fertilizers in farming which increases
the quality of soil and the produce obtained. The dry waste
collected should be sent for further segregation by which
materials can be recycled or reused.
The economic potential of waste segregation is undermined
by India. Employing this methodology in the waste
management of urban cities will reduce the usage of landfills.
The proposed waste segregator separates the waste into dry and
wet waste using inductive, capacitive and IR proximity sensors.
This segregating bin can be used in households. This can
segregate when the objects are placed one by one. The bin also
alerts the user when the segregating bin is full.
II. DESIGN
A. Methodology
Inputs are obtained from the capacitive proximity sensor,
inductive proximity sensor, and IR proximity sensors. These
inputs are processed using Arduino UNO and the servomotors
are used to move and segregate the waste. LCD is used to
display the type of waste placed on the segregating bin and
whether the bins are full. The above is illustrated in Fig. 1, in
the form of a block diagram. The basic control flow for the
segregation of the waste defined in this work is illustrated in
Fig. 2. The segregator has two components for separate
collection of dry and wet waste. The gap between the two

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 Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES 2020)
IEEE Conference Record # 48766; IEEE Xplore ISBN: 978-1-7281-5371-1

compartments is used for placing the Arduino and the battery

needed to power the sensors and servomotors. The Arduino is
powered by using an external adapter connected to the DC Fig. 2. Control flow diagram.
Barrel plug of the board.

TABLE I. W ASTE DETECTION BASED ON SENSORS

Se nsors
Type of waste
Capacitive Inductive
Metallic (dry) Detects Detects

Wet Detects No change

Dry No change No change

From Fig. 3, the design structure of the bin can be

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the system.
The waste to be thrown is placed on the tray such that it is
above the inductive proximity sensor and capacitive proximity
sensor which are placed below the tray. The tray is attached to
two servomotors which rotates in two directions depending on
the type of waste detected so that the waste falls into the
appropriate compartment. The sensor with which the type of
waste is detected (metallic dry, wet, dry) is shown in the form
of a table in Table 1.
understood with the location of each sensor and compartments
of the bin. The top view of the bin designed is shown in Fig. 4.
IR sensor is not directly involved in the waste type detection
(wet or dry) but can be used to define the presence of waste on
the tray [7]. IR proximity sensors are also fitted in each
compartment to indicate whether the compartments are full. If
the compartments are full which is indicated by the IR sensors,
a message is displayed on the LCD. The message tells the user
which compartment is full and the message is displayed as long
as the compartments are full. During this time, even if waste is
placed on the tray, the tray will not move. The LCD is also
used to display the type of waste placed on the tray when the
bins are not full [8].

Fig. 3. T he control structure of the module.

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 Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES 2020)
IEEE Conference Record # 48766; IEEE Xplore ISBN: 978-1-7281-5371-1

Mate rial Re sult

Fig. 4. T op view of the actual bin.
Plastic cover Compartment A

Orange Compartment B

B. Components Used Glass bottle Compartment A

x Along with Arduino UNO as the processing unit for the

segregator. Inductive and capacitive proximity sensors TABLE III. W ASTE - SENSOR CORRESP ONDENCE
are used to detect the type of waste placed on the tray Mate rial Capacitive Inductive IR Waste
[9]. Inductive proximity sensors are used for detecting
Banana peel Detects No change Detects Wet
metals [10]. Capacitive proximity sensors are used to
detect a wide range of objects. Objects with high Metal ring Detects Detects Detects Dry
dielectric constant (like water) are easier to detect [11].
Rubber No change No change Detects Dry
x IR proximity sensors are used to detect whether the Paper No change No change Detects Dry
waste is placed on the tray (they are not directly
involved in the detection of the type of waste) and Plastic cover No change No change Detects Dry
whether the compartments are full. Orange Detects No change Detects Wet
x A 16X2 LCD is used to display whether the Glass bottle No change No change Detects Dry
compartments are full. It also displays the type of waste
placed on the tray.
x MG995 servomotors are used to move the tray in the The sensor detects the waste put on the tray and then the
appropriate direction so that the waste on the tray drops process continues. For the process of detection of wet waste, a
into the appropriate compartment [12]. banana peel was put on the tray. As soon as the peel was on the
tray, the IR sensor detected the presence of the waste. Then the
x 12 volts lead-acid battery is used to power the sensors capacitive sensor that is fit behind the tray detected the
and servomotors. The voltage is appropriately stepped presence of banana peel and it classifies the peel as wet waste.
down for the servomotors using a Buck power converter From Fig. 5.a, the bin detects the presence of the peel and
module. classifies it as wet waste which is displayed on the LCD and is

III. RESULT S AND DISCUSSION a)

The segregator bin was tested for various materials.
Following some delay, the materials fell into the appropriate
compartments. Compartment A is for dry waste and
compartment B is for wet waste. The LCD also displays the
type of waste that is placed on the tray. The results obtained are
shown in Table 2.
Additionally, LCD displays a message that indicates which
compartment is full, depending on the readings of two IR
proximity sensors fitted in each compartment of the segregator
bin. The tray does not move even if a single compartment gets
full. The way the sensors work when the objects mentioned in
the table are placed on the tray is illustrated in the form of a
table (Table 3). From Table 3, it can be inferred that IR sensors
are not involved in the waste type identification. It is a b)
condition included knowing that waste is placed on the tray.
When there is no waste being placed on the tray, the readings
obtained from the capacitive and inductive proximity sensors
are not considered.

TABLE II. SEGREGATION OF DIFFERENT WASTE

Mate rial Re sult

Banana peel Compartment B

Metal ring Compartment A

Rubber Compartment A

Paper Compartment A

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 Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES 2020)
IEEE Conference Record # 48766; IEEE Xplore ISBN: 978-1-7281-5371-1
segregated into the compartment specified for wet waste as
shown in Fig. 5.b.
Fig. 5. a) type of waste detection and b)dropping of wet waste into the
corresponding compartment.
For the process of detection of dry waste, a paper ball was
put on the tray. As soon as the ball was on the tray, the IR
sensor detected the presence of the waste. Then the IR sensor
itself classifies the paper ball as dry waste. As paper does not
show effect with respect to the proximity sensors (inductive
and capacitive), it is done with IR sensor itself. From Fig. 6.a,
the bin detects the presence of the paper ball and classifies it as
dry waste which is displayed in the LCD and is segregated into
the compartment specified for dry waste in Fig. 6.b.
The effect of different sensors on different wastes was
studied by using them individually. Table 3 gives the
consolidated observation of the testing. The waste that is
thrown should be in their natural state. For example, if a
polythene bag is wet, then it would be detected as wet waste
and fall into the wet waste compartment. This is a major
drawback for the segregator. The waste detection technique
should be upgraded to consider the above case. This segregator
bin can be used to detect and segregate dry and wet waste
individually. So, it can be used only for domestic purposes.
This can be extended to a conveyor system where segregation
is more specific as well as waste could be fed into the system
all at once and the system takes care of separating it. Th is
would be an efficient way of waste segregation at a higher
level.
a)
b)
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Fig. 6. a) type of waste detection and b)dropping of dry waste into the
corresponding compartment.
IV. CONCLUSION
The proposed segregator bin is a realization of a compact,
low cost, and user-friendly segregation system for households
to streamline the process of waste segregation. This segregation
at the primary level lays the foundation for further segregation
and recycling of waste at a higher level. This segregation of
waste at the primary level also helps in the effective collection
of waste. Health risks posed by contagious diseases due to the
dangerous practice of dumping all the collected waste in
landfills could be minimized. A cleaner country could boost the
development of the country as the economic situation of the
country would greatly improve if its citizens live in a sanitized
environment.
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