Introduction to Automatic trash bin

The Automatic Trash Bin

Year Two Group Project, University of Liverpool, Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department.

The developments of this project were supervised by Dr. James Bradley

The Group members are

 Haoran Cheng, Xuhui Gong, Shekhah Mobarak, A-ro Han 

The main aim of this project is to construct an operational automatic trash bin that is able to distinguish between different types of trash and dispose of them into their assigned category, this project was chosen to ease the operation of recycling considering that recycling has a great positive impact to preserving the environment. This blog will contain the weekly updates of this products development, the blog will contain brief explanations and illustrations of each development stage.

Introduction to the Automatic Sorting Trash Bin  

There has been a rapid increase to the concern of the environment, consequently many countries have launched campaigns to preserve the current environmental state. Paying extra attention to the state of environment is critical, doing so will eventually help reduce the negative influences on the environment and recover as much as we can from the damages which have already affected the environment. An apparent way to help preserve the environment is to encourage recycling, most countries nowadays recycle depending on the type of trash for instance plastic bottles are separated from paper, paper cups, etc. The way in which the people are expected to recognize and sort by is dependent on the place the bin is situated, for instance in the UK the methodology of utilizing a color code is common. This color code methodology is also dependent on the area which it is used meaning not every public place uses the same colors for the same type of trash to illustrate, in the University of Liverpool, blue is for paper, orange for plastic bottles, grey is for food tins and cans, and finally black is for general waste, as shown in figure one below. Nevertheless, some people still find it somewhat confusing or might neglect the color code or instruction when they are in a hurry thus they would throw the trash in the incorrect bin. Sorting garbage is an effective way to reduce the costs of transporting and disposal of waste. Therefore, the creation of the automatic trash bin was influenced to ease the operation of recycling and sorting rubbish.               

Figure One: Recycling bins in the University of Liverpool

Nowadays most recycling bins are split into different categories hence manufactures will be producing several bins which will lead to them wasting a lot of money and time of production. In addition, manufacturers would be extensively consuming raw materials to produce the bins. Another thing to consider is the fact that some bins might be built out of plastic so in the long term it might end up damaging the environment.

Furthermore, in this case the automatic trash bin could be a replacement for the four separate trash bins, the automatic trash bin is internally divided into different sections. The automatic trash bin will be able to automatically distinguish between bottles, cans, paper, and glass and dispose of them in the designated area. The automatic trash bin will include a sensor for the cover a camera to detect which object is thrown into the bin, Raspberry Pi 4 will use machine leaning technology to separate the waste into the categories previously mentioned.

To conclude, all sectors such as governments, public areas, universities, and homes will benefit from this product since they would be investing in a product that would last longer and will ease the operation of sorting and separating the trash.

Preliminary Stage 

In the early stages of this project a meeting was held to discuss the overall objectives and tasks which will help reach the goal of the project (constructing an operational trash bin). Considering that this is group work all tasks have to be distributed fairly amongst the members hence, each member was allocated a role aimed towards the development of the project.

The allocation of the roles:

-       Xuhui: Group leader/ Researcher /Software

-       Haoran: Designer/ Researcher /Software

-       Shekhah: Logbook/ Researcher /Hardware

-       A-ro: Organizer/ Researcher /Hardware  

Naturally the very first step of any project is research, hence each member conducted a brief overall research about this project. Afterwards, the group discussed the structure of the automatic trash bin and what features to include such as motion sensors, recognition, built in dividers, etc. A preliminary design was agreed upon by the group members as shown below in figure 2, after the design was agreed upon the group has to decide what components are needed to create the bin. Finally, each group member was given a task such as further research, gaining basic software knowledge of the Raspberry Pi 4, checking if the components needed for the construction of the trash bin are available from the suppliers

Figure Two: Initial Design 

The components were then agreed upon and ordered see figures 3, 4, and 5.

Figure Three: Required equipment from laboratory 

Figure four: Component list part A

Figure five: Component list part B