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Smart Recycle Bin: A Conceptual Approach of Smart Waste Management with

Integrated Web Based System

Article · January 2015

DOI: 10.1109/ICITCS.2014.7021812

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 Smart Recycle Bin
A Conceptual Approach of Smart Waste Management with Integrated Web based System

Mohd Helmy Abd Wahab Aeslina Abdul Kadir

Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Env.
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
P.O. Box 101 Pt. Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia P.O. Box 101 Pt. Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
helmy@uthm.edu.my aeslina@uthm.edu.my

Mohd Razali Tomari Mohamad Hairol Jabbar

Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
P.O. Box 101 Pt. Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia P.O. Box 101 Pt. Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
mdrazali@uthm.edu.my hairol@uthm.edu.my

Abstract—Nowadays, the trend is clear that the use of

pervasive computing technology has taken place to improve
waste management by providing electronic system which utilizing
radio frequency identification at bin level. In this paper, we
proposed a smart recycle bin application based on information in
the smart card to automatically calculate the weight of waste and
convert the weight into point then store it into the card. The
wastes are tracked by smart bins using a RFID-based system
integrating the web-based information system at the host server.
Two crucial features of the selective sorting process can be
improved using this approach. First, the user is assisted in the
application of material waste classification. Second, the smart bin
knows its content and can report back to the rest of the recycling
chain.
Fig. 1. Municipal solid waste generated by Malaysian
Keywords—smart recycle bin, waste management, solid waste,
RFID, server II. AWARENESS
Perbadanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal (PPSPPA) claimed
I. INTRODUCTION that the awareness among citizens on waste recycling are very
The growth of the information technology, the use of poor even though the facilities are provided. Therefore, this
pervasive computing technology has taken place in many product meets the target required by the
applications including waste management. Recycling is one of government/organizations/authorities that involved in waste
the important approaches taken for managing waste. It is a management specifically PPSPPA by motivating and
process of collecting and processing unwanted materials to be encouraging Malaysians to contribute by rewarding those who
turned into new products. At present, the recycling rate in recycle and eventually increase their awareness on the
Malaysia is very low (5%) compared to other countries. The importance of waste recycling. The current practices of the
Ministry of Housing and Local Government aims to achieve a waste collections activities illustrated in Figure 2. In general,
recycling rate of 22% by the year 2020. In ensuring that the the rate for waste cycling as presented in Table 1.
desired goals of the recycling programme are achieved, an
effective implementation of the 3R (reduces, reuse, recycle)
concepts and practices in solid waste management is therefore
crucial. Efforts to promote the 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle)
program are increasing to encourage the reduction of waste
going into landfills for protecting and conserving natural
resources, environment and energy. As illustrated in Figure 1
is a municipal solid waste generated by Malaysian [1].

978-1-4799-6541-0/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE

 material, identification of the user and points collected by the
user. Another aspect of this invention is to disclose a recycle
system that is capable of determining points collected based
on the disposal activity and the disposed material in a simple
way through a calculator module which is configured with an
applicable algorithm. It also enhances the effectiveness of
waste management of the recyclable item[14].
Fig. 2. Current practice of the waste collection program These aspects are attainable through the recycle system
disclosed herein. The system comprises at least one recycle
bin having an automated door for receiving one or more
Table 1. Recycling rate objects disposed thereinto, a sensor for detecting data related
to the disposed object, a target device installed on the recycle
Material Rate bin having a reader, and a microcontroller for regulating the
recycle bin through establishing a communication with the
Aluminum can 3 MYR/kg door, sensor and reader; a mobile device incorporated with a
tag which has a unique identification information of a user and
Paper 0.23 MYR/kg is configured to communicate with the reader of the target
device through an action performed to bring the mobile device
Plastic 0.4 MYR/kg in close proximity with the target device for sending the
unique identification information to the reader such that
Glass 0.16 MYR/kg identity of the user can be verified in order for the door of the
recycle bin to open for allowing a disposal activity to be
conducted on the object into the recycle bin; a base station
having at least a server connected to the microcontroller, a
III. PROPOSED SYSTEM database for storing data related to the unique identification
A Smart Recycle Bin that caters for recycling glass (brown), information of the user, disposed object and disposal activity
paper (blue) and aluminum can, plastic products (orange) that that are received from the microcontroller, and a calculator
automatically evaluate the value of the wastes thrown module for determining an amount of points collected by the
accordingly and provide 3R card. The accumulated collected user based on the disposal activity and disposed object; and an
points on the 3R Card could be used to rebate for an item or online platform for displaying the amount of points, and the
will be cash out in the bank account according to the data related to the disposed object and disposal activity of the
number/type/price of recycle waste thrown into the Smart user; wherein the points are rebatable and/or redeemable for
Recycle Bin. The benefit of the smart recycle bin are used to products or services.

• Usefullness – to increase the utilization of the

particular bin for waste disposal

• Assist the waste management authority to effectively

and efficiently improve the collection of recyclable
waste.

• To civilized the recycling process to the user by

rewarding points who contribute to waste recycling
‘Waste to Wealth’

• Increase the awareness among citizens

A recycle system that allows points to be collected by a

user upon disposing an object into a recycle bin (Figure 3). Fig. 3. Proposed architecture
The main aim of the recycle system is to enables collection of
points for performing a disposal activity into designated
recycle bins. Such system encourages recycling activities by
allowing the points to be redeemable for products or services.
This feature is to assist manufacturers in managing the
purchase of recyclable goods. The system allows convenient
recording of data related to the disposal activities, disposed
 Digital Weight Client Motor
Scale
(Open/Close Lid)
PC /
ARDUINO
RFID LCD

WIFI CONNECTION

PC (Database)
Server

Fig. 4. Block diagram

Considering the massive volume of recycle wastes produced

annually, the invention of Smart Recycle Bin that utilized a 3R
Card has a high potential commercial value as it will increase
significantly the amount of recycle wastes collected.

9 Easy to use

9 Users do not have to collect recycle waste in bulk

Fig. 5. General process of how the smart recycle bin work
9 Motivate users to recycle anytime and anywhere
To be precise the process can be further detail as illustrated in
9 Automatic conversion system to convert Figure 6.
weight/amount /type of recycle waste into monetary
rewards or accumulated points

9 Automatic detection system for the recycle waste

according to its weight/amount /type

A. Prevent misuse of facilities

A 3R Card is a RFID-based card integrated with

microcontroller. Users of who owning the 3R Card have to
register and create an account to an online system. An online
system is provided for registered user to check the
accumulated points according to the number/type/price of
recycle waste that were thrown inside the bin. The general
process of how the system works is presented in Figure 4.

Fig. 6. Detail process

IV. PROTOTYPE
As illustrated in Figure 7, the current recycle bin (Figure 7
(left)) and the modified recycle bin (Figure 7(right)). The
smart recycle bin allow the 3R card to be swiped prior
performing the disposal activity due to access the user
information for tracking and recording the current disposal
activity for update the weight and accumulated points.

Fig. 7. Prototype of smart recycle bin
Managing waste using the use of information technology has
gain a serious attention nowadays. The utilization of
techniques such as RFID [9-11], Wireless sensor network [5],
and VANET [3] has successfully indicate that technology are
capable in providing a facility for the authority to manage
waste effectively, it also can be a contributing factor that lead
the people to recycle and manage the waste [7]. Many
countries such as China [6], India [8], South Africa [3],
Switzeland [3], Malaysia [1] concern on providing the
systematic techniques in managing waste. Currently, the
reward-based recycle system has been widely developed to
gradually increase the motivation of the community to support
the clean city campaign. Some of the examples of the
development of the systems are Smart Recycle and Reward
Bin [2], Smart Waste Management with Self-Describing
Objects [12] and etc.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we propose a solution to enhance waste
collection efficiency using the RFID technology. The
presented system helps the user in correctly sorting and
disposing wastes and in addition reward user by converting the
weight into points.
The reported information about the content of each bin is
also a way to compute statistics of each type of waste in the
recycling process. This approach can also help to better plan
waste collection and special intervention by operators in case
of abnormal conditions. The latter feature is based on an
ambient communication infrastructure, which we do not
describe here. An energy efficient protocol for long life
operation such as waste containers is presented in [15].
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper is part of the research “Smart Recycle Bin”
under Product Development Grant (B029) awarded by
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia in Collaboration with
Perbadanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal dan Pembersihan Awam
Malaysia (PPSPPA)
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