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Automatic Waste Segregator and Monitoring System

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 Journal of Microcontroller Engineering and Applications
ISSN: 2455-197X (online)
Volume 3, Issue 2
www.stmjournals.com

Automatic Waste Segregator and Monitoring System

Aleena V.J.*, Kavya Balakrishnan, Rosmi T.B., Swathy Krishna K.J., Sreejith S,
T.D. Subha
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Holy Grace Academy of Engineering,
Thrissur, Kerala, India

Abstract
Rapid increase in population has led to improper waste management in metro cities and
urban areas which has resulted in spreading of diseases. It is estimated that 2.02 billion tones
of municipal solid waste was generated universally in 2006. The segregation, transport,
handling and disposal of waste must be managed properly to minimize the risks to the public,
and the environment. An efficient method to dispose the waste has been designed in our
project, “automatic waste segregator and monitoring system”. This paper proposes an
automatic waste segregator (AWS) which is a cheap, easy to use solution for a segregation
system at households, so that the wastes can be sent directly for processing. Automatic waste
segregator is designed to sort the waste into three main categories namely; metallic, organic
and plastic, thereby making the waste management more effective. Ultrasonic sensors are
added for monitoring waste collection process. The sensors would be placed in all the
garbage bins. When the garbage reaches the level of the sensor, then the indication will be
given to a microcontroller. The microcontroller will give indication to the driver of garbage
collection truck by sending SMS using GSM technology.

Keywords: Automatic waste segregator, waste management, microcontroller, SMS, GSM

*Author for Correspondence E-mail: aleenavadayil1995@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION waste as plastic, metallic or organic. The

In India about 60 million tonnes of waste is
being generated every year. Ten million tonnes
of garbage is generated in metropolitan cities
[1]. The landfills of most of these cities are
overflowing with no space for fresh garbage
waste. The philosophy of “waste management
hierarchy” has been adopted by most nations
as the step for developing municipal solid
waste (MSW) management strategies [2].
According to a sanitation survey called
“Swachh Survekshan-2016” conducted by the
ministry of urban development under the
swachh bharat mission, it was found that about
50% people in India face the problem of
improper waste collection and management.
According to centre of science and
environment, innovative disposal and
recycling methods must be introduced instead
of landfill sites.
Thus, we have proposed a cost effective
“Automatic waste segregator and monitoring
system” for proper management of waste.
Automatic waste segregator categorizes the
monitoring system helps to monitor the waste
collection process. The common method of
waste disposal is by unplanned and
uncontrolled dumping at landfill areas [3].
This method is hazardous to human health,
plant and animal life. When the waste is
segregated into basic streams such as plastic,
metallic and organic, the waste has a higher
potential of recovery, and then, recycled and
reused [4]. The organic waste is converted
either into compost or methane-gas or both
[5]. Compost can replace demand for chemical
fertilizers, and biogas can be used as a source
of energy. The metal waste could be reused or
recycled.
Even if there are large scale industrial waste
segregators present, it is always feasible to
separate the waste at the source itself [6]. The
benefit of doing so is that the occupational
hazard for waste workers is reduced [4, 7].
Also, the separated waste could be directly
sent to the recycling and processing plant
instead of sending it to the segregation plant
then to the recycling plant.

JoMEA (2016) 1-7 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved Page 1
Automatic Waste Segregator and Monitoring System Aleena et al.

EXISTING SYSTEM unit belt. The eddy current separator is applied

Municipal solid waste can be separated using to a conveyor belt carrying a thin layer of
various techniques [8]: mixed waste. At the end of the conveyor belt
 Trommel separators/drum screens; is an eddy current rotor. Non-ferrous metals
 Eddy current separators; are thrown forward from the belt into a bin,
 Inductor sorting; while metals simply fall off the belt due to
 Near infrared sensors; gravity.
 X-ray technology; and
Induction Sorting
 Manual sorting.
In certain cases, metallic components, e.g.
stainless steel and composite materials, cannot
Trommel Separators/Drum Screens
be recovered using magnetic separation and
A trommel screen, also known as rotary
non-ferrous metal sorting processes. The
screen, is an essential unit which is used
induction sorting system is the solution to this
mainly in the mineral and solid waste
problem. The main measuring criterion is the
processing industries. It consists of a
electrical conductivity of the material. Small
perforated cylindrical drum which is normally
sensors of about a thumb’s width in size
elevated at an angle at the feed end [9].
positioned under a belt emit electromagnetic
waves [10].
Physical size separation is achieved as the feed
material spirals down the rotating drum, where
Electrical conductors traversing through the
the undersized material smaller than the screen
field change these waves and a computer
apertures passes through the screen, while the
detects the signal difference for each
oversized material exits at the other end of the
individual particle, which makes it possible to
drum.
accurately sort particles with a conductor of
thicknesses 1 mm.
Eddy Current Separators
Eddy current separator uses a powerful
Near Infrared Sensors
magnetic field to separate non-ferrous metals
When materials are illuminated, they mostly
from waste after all ferrous metals have been
reflect light in the near infrared wavelength
removed previously. Eddy current separators
spectrum [3]. The NIR sensor can distinguish
are not designed to sort ferrous metals which
between different materials based on the way
become hot inside the eddy current field. This
they reflect light.
can lead to damage of eddy current separator

Fig. 1: Block Diagram of Waste Segregator.

JoMEA (2016) 1-7 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved Page 2
Journal of Microcontroller Engineering and Applications
Volume 3, Issue 2
ISSN: 2455-197X (online)
X-ray Technology
X-rays can be used to distinguish between
different types of waste based on their density.
Manual Sorting
The municipal waste is separated into plastic,
paper, metallic, etc. manually.
PROPOSED SYSTEM
The whole system is controlled by an Arduino
Uno board. All other parts like ultrasonic
sensors, inductive proximity sensor, DC
motors, blower and electromagnet are
interfaced to the Arduino board as shown in
Figure 1.
Open-Close Mechanism
The open close mechanism acts as a regulator
to control the waste that falls on the belt. A
12 V DC geared motor receives inputs from
microcontroller to monitor the clockwise and
anti-clockwise motion of the motor. As motor
rotates, the rotary motion is translated to linear
motion using a rack and pinion arrangement.
L293D is used as the motor driver IC to
provide the necessary current to the motor.
This mechanism is initiated only if the
ultrasonic sensor at the inlet detects a waste.
Conveyor Belt
It carries the waste from inlet to outlet
sections. Four 12 V DC geared motors are
used to move the belt.
Inductive Proximity Sensor
Inductive proximity sensor based on the eddy
current principle is fixed in the inlet part to
identify the presence of metals in the waste
[11]. The NPN sensor gives a logical 0 output
in the presence of metal and logical 1 output in
the absence of metal. This is fed as input to the
microcontroller.
Geared DC Motor
A motor takes electrical energy and converts
into mechanical energy. A geared DC motor
has a gear assembly attached to the motor. The
speed of motor is counted in terms of rotations
of the shaft per minute and is termed as RPM.
The gear assembly helps in increasing the
torque and reducing the speed. Using the
correct combination of gears in a gear motor,
its speed can be reduced to any desirable
JoMEA (2016) 1-7 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved
figure. This concept where gears reduce the
speed of the vehicle but increase its torque is
known as gear reduction. The DC motor works
over a fair range of voltage. The higher the
input voltage more is the RPM (rotations per
minute) of the motor. For example, if the
motor works in the range of 6–2 V, it will have
the least RPM at 6 V and maximum at 12 V.
Blower
The blower separates plastic or paper wastes
which are light weight. Dry and wet separation
is based on their weight. Due to its high
density and weight, wet waste refuses to be
blown off even in the presence of a high speed
blower. This technique is used to distinguish
wet and dry waste. A relay will control the on
and off of a high speed AC blower. As blower
blows, the belt stops and dry waste is thrown
out into the dry bin. Wet waste stays on the
belt. It then falls off due to gravity at the end
of the belt as it rolls.
Fig. 2: Block Diagram of Monitoring System.
Robotic Arm
Metal wastes are separated by a robotic arm
with an electromagnet fixed on the arm.
Robotic arm delivers fast, accurate, and
repeatable movement. The robot features are:
base rotation, single plane shoulder. When the
metal is detected by the inductive proximity
sensor; the conveyor belt stops. Control signal
is given to robotic arm to extract the metal by
the electromagnet attached to it and then turn
around 180° and drop the metal particles into a
bin. Robotic arm moves with the help of two
12 V geared DC motors.
Electromagnet
An electromagnet is a device used to generate
a magnetic field with the help of an electric
current. Electromagnet usually consists of a
Page 3
Automatic Waste Segregator and Monitoring System
large number of closely spaced turns of wire
that create the magnetic field. The wire turns
are often wound around a magnetic core made
from a ferromagnetic or ferromagnetic
material such as iron; the magnetic core
concentrates the magnetic flux and makes a
more powerful magnet. The main advantage of
an electromagnet over a permanent magnet is
that the magnetic field can be quickly changed
by controlling the amount of electric current in
the winding.
However, unlike a permanent magnet that
needs no power, an electromagnet requires a
continuous supply of current to maintain the
magnetic field. The principle that
electromagnets work by is used in a wide
range of electric and electronic devices such as
electric motors, solenoids, tape drives and
even speakers and microphones. The simplest
electromagnet can be built with a simple metal
wire through which electric current is being
circulated.
Ultrasonic Sensors
Ultrasonic sensor is fixed in the inlet part so as
to detect the falling of waste. The trigger
pulses are provided for ultrasound detection of
waste. The echo received from the waste is
received by the microcontroller to calculate the
delay [12]. Ultrasonic sensors will also be
placed on every outlet bins (metal bin, plastic
bin, organic bin) to check whether they are
filled or not. Whenever any of the bins are
filled, corresponding information will be given
to the monitoring system by a GSM module
through short message service (SMS).
GSM Module
Global system for mobile communication
(GSM) is an architecture used for mobile
communication in most of the countries. GSM
module consists of a GSM modem assembled
together with power supply circuit and
communication interfaces like RS-232, USB,
etc. for computer. The modem is the soul of
such modules. GSM modem is a class of
wireless modem devices that are designed for
communication of a computer with the GSM
network. It requires a SIM (Subscriber Identity
Module) card just like mobile phones to
activate communication with the network.
Also, they have IMEI (International Mobile
Equipment Identity) number similar to mobile
JoMEA (2016) 1-7 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved
Aleena et al.
phones for their identification. A GSM modem
can perform the following operations: receive,
send or delete SMS messages in a SIM; read,
add, search phonebook entries of the SIM; and
make, receive or reject a voice call. Modem
needs AT commands, for interfacing with
processor or controller, which are
communicated through serial communication.
Different AT commands supported by the
MODEM can be sent by the
processor/controller/computer to interact with
the GSM cellular network.
Monitoring System
The monitoring system consists of a GSM
module and a computer [13–20]. Block
diagram for monitoring system is shown in
Figure 2. The SMS from waste bins will be fed
into the computer by GSM module [21].
MAX232 is an IC used for interfacing a serial
communication system to the computer. An
SMS is sent from this monitoring system to
the waste collector or to clean up the filled bin.
Software Implementation
The software used to program the Arduino
Uno is Arduino IDE. The flow diagram of the
software implementation is shown in Figure 3.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The proposed system “automatic waste
segregator and monitoring system” sorts
wastes into three different categories, namely
metal, plastic and the wet (organic) waste. Wet
waste refers to organic waste such as vegetable
peels, left-over food etc. Separating our waste
is essential as the amount of waste being
generated today causes immense problem.
Here, we have tested the household wastes
which are generated in every home today and
we have come up with the following result.
Tables 1–3 show the tested results of the waste
when exposed to our automatic waste
segregator and monitoring system. The
proposed system would be able to monitor the
solid waste collection process and
management of the overall collection process.
It would provide in time solid waste
collection. The technologies which are used in
the proposed system are good enough to
ensure the practical and perfect for solid waste
collection process monitoring and
management for green environment.
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Journal of Microcontroller Engineering and Applications
Volume 3, Issue 2
ISSN: 2455-197X (online)

Fig. 3: Flowchart of Software Implementation.

JoMEA (2016) 1-7 © STM Journals 2016. All Rights Reserved Page 5
Automatic Waste Segregator and Monitoring System Aleena et al.

The advantages of automatic waste segregator CONCLUSION

and monitoring system are listed below:  The waste segregator as the name
 Sorting of waste at the primary stage will suggests, segregates the waste into three
make the waste management more major classes: plastic, organic, metallic.
effective and fruitful.  The proposed system would be able to
 The dustbins are cleared as and when they monitor the solid waste collection process
are filled, thus giving way to a cleaner and management of the overall collection
environment. process.
 Eco friendly system.  The inlet section is provided with open
 Lower initial investment including lower and close mechanism to regulate the flow
cost of installation of waste on to the conveyor.
 Inductive proximity sensor is used to
Table 1: Result of Metallic Waste Separation. detect the metallic waste.
Sl. No. Type of Metal Waste Discarded or Not  A blower mechanism is used to segregate
1 Safety pin Yes dry and wet waste.
2 Paper clip Yes  The timing and movement of the conveyor
3 Battery Yes
belt is controlled by Arduino Uno.
Continuous and unnecessary operation of
4 Nail Yes
any particular section is thus avoided.
Table 2: Result of Organic Waste Separation. REFERENCES
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3. Shuchi Gupta, Krishna Mohan, Raj Kumar
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Cite this Article
Aleena VJ, Kavya Balakrishnan, Rosmi
TB et al. Automatic Waste Segregator
and Monitoring System. Journal of
Microcontroller Engineering and
Applications. 2016; 3(2): 1–7p.
Page 7