SmartBins – Blas

For our World Wide Technology project we created Smart bins that measure the weight of trash, recycling and compost in order to track how much waste is produced, to reduce it.

Scale

For this, we designed a scale, that measures the amount of weight in the bin. This scale goes under the bin and senses when more weight is added. It sends this data to our server, which will be graphed and analyzed.

Data Analysis

This data will show us what needs to be done to reduce waste. For instance, if the data says that the trash is increasing in weight at some point in time, we would know something unusual is going on and we can do something about it. Through this we can help educate children on how to reduce their waste in order to better our environment. For example, we could talk about how to reduce their waste by putting more things in the recycling. Our data would hold them accountable, showing us if they are learning anything.

Through analyzing the data many things can come of it. This project helps promote the bettering of the environment through education and waste reduction.

Procedure

In order to create our Smart Bin, first we came up with the idea of improving the environment and involving the community we have at school as a whole.

We struggled to figuring out what would be the best project and how to split up the jobs that needed to be done.

In the end, we divided the work and began working.

I helped design the Smart Bin using an Hx711 connected to a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi senses when the weight on the Hx711 is changed and sends that to our server.

I also contributed through the promotion of the project. Coen and I interviewed various members of the community as well as everyone on board to create our video of this project which we presented to the WWT staff that judged us.

I went to the kids at our school and talked to everyone about how to reduce weight and about our idea for our project to make sure they where all with us. I also helped advertising our idea and how it could be implemented in the future.

Closing

Overall it was a great success. I learned many things in terms of how to work with a group and how to divide work. I learned the importance of keeping a schedule and everyone on track. I also learned how to talk to large amounts of people to promote a business idea.

We won 5,000$ for the Makerspace through this project.

Next Steps

To continue this project I made a PCB that holds our Raspberry Pi and makes connecting the Hx711 sensors and the LEDs easier.

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Blas-U/SmartBins