Arduino-based Smart Garbage Monitoring System

Analysis Requirement and Implementation

Namakambo Muyunda Muhammad Ibrahim .

Faculty of Engineering, Computing, and Science Faculty of Engineering, Computing, and Science
Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak
Kuching, Malaysia Kuching, Malaysia
namakambom@gmail.com ibrahimnazeer93@gmail.com

Abstract—With the growth of cities, the waste produced also

increases. Many of the world’s developing cities are still lacking
in the area of waste management, in particular, the collection of
garbage within the cities. Because of this, garbage tends to pile up
in certain areas. This not only poses a health risk to the
surrounding communities, but also creates unpleasant
environments for the residents. To provide a solution to this
problem, a smart garbage monitoring system is therefore
proposed to tackle the issues faced. This system will allow the city
authorities to better manage their resources in the collection of
garbage and provide a platform that will allow for an efficient
garbage collection system.
II. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
For most cities, the common practice for the collection of
waste is done by a fleet of trucks that service fixed routes [1].
For a typical collection day, the collectors follow a fixed route
stopping at all the garbage bins in a given area. The collection
may not always meet the needs of the community.
In figure 1, the bins with the red icon are those that are
filled to a level that warrants collection while the green and
yellow bins do not require any attention.

Keywords— Garbage monitoring system; Solid waste collection;

Internet of things(IoT).

I. INTRODUCTION
As the world’s population grows at a fast pace, more and
more waste is produced daily and waste management becomes
a more crucial matter. Of particular importance is the collection
of solid waste from city garbage bins. Research has shown that
solid waste collection and transfer provided by a city to its
residents takes up over 70% of the city waste management
budget in developing countries [1], and up to 60% in developed
countries [2]. This not only depletes the council of its budget in
a single area, but also reduces the resources that can be spent in
other aspects of waste management, such as recycling plants
and the like. In addition to the resources used, it has also been
shown that inadequate or inefficient collection processes also
lead to undesirable and in some cases unsanitary conditions
that pose a risk to the surrounding communities [3]. Such risks
are presented in the form of overfilled garbage bins and foul
odours. It was identified that the large number of resources
used is generally due to the lack of planning, data on the Figure 1: Sample collection route
collection, and poor infrastructure [4].
With the current advancement of technology, smart cities If the current practice were to be used, a route would be
are on the rise. Smart cities represent a conceptual urban taken that would stop at each location of the bin locations.
development model on the basis of the utilization of human, However, by implementing a system that is able to monitor and
collective, and technological capital for the development of relay the state of the bin back to the collectors, this process can
urban agglomerations [5]. With the popularity of the Internet of be optimised to create an efficient system that fully utilises the
things (IoT) growing, and the availability of low cost actuators available resources. The proposed system was therefore
and sensors, the benefits of these technologies can be used to developed with the following objectives
solve the problems faced in the current methods of waste 1. Develop a device (Sensor Node) that can monitor the
management in cities. To this effect, this paper proposes a state of a garbage bin and relay the monitored state to a
system that will address the issues described above to provide a central database.
more efficient solution.

978-1-5386-0765-7/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

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 2. Collect Sensor data from each bin and display it on a
webpage to alert the relevant authorities of the states of
the various garbage bins in a given area.
3. Store sensor data for each of the garbage bins to
provide analytical information for each of the garbage
collection areas.
4. Provide route planning for the collection based on the
selected fill level and priorities of each bin.
Each of the sensor nodes therefore performs entry into the
database and directly receives any data back from the server.
The information stored on the server is then made accessible
via a mobile phone application as well as a webpage.
The independence of each of the nodes allows them to be
placed without having to make any consideration on the other
sensor nodes.

III. HARDWARE DESIGN

Figure 2: Hardware setup

Figure 2 shows the hardware setup that is used to create a

single sensor node. The purpose of each of the components is
listed in the table show in figure 3 below.

Minimum Requirement . Figure 4: System Architecture

Level sensor Check the fill level of the bin
Tilt sensor Check to see if the bin is in an IMPLEMENTATION
upright position or has fallen over
Connection Provide the microcontroller with a A. Hardware
module connection to the database
Microcontroller Used to gather the sensor data and For the prototype that was implemented, the components
transmit it to messages to the used are listed as follows:
database
Battery Provides power to sensors and the 1. ESP8266-01 Wi-Fi module (Communication)
Microcontroller board 2. HC-SR04 Ultrasonic sensor(Distance)
Fig 3: Component Description Table 3. DS3132 Real Time Clock (Time keeping)
The components are to be enclosed in a single container to 4. Arduino Nano (Microcontroller)
create a device that can be fitted onto garbage bins to provide
the functionality without any significant modification to the 5. 18650 NiMh battery (Power)
existing bins.
6. Generic tilt sensor module (Orientation)
IV. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE 7. XL6009 DC-DC Boost converter (step-up converter)
For the sensor network, a single hop network with a flat 8. LM2596 DC-DC Buck converter (step-down
architecture was chosen. This was mainly to allow each sensor converter)
to communicate directly with the server and thus avoid the
hassle that would be caused in two-way communication if a The step-up and down converters are used to provide
multi-hop network were to be used. power to the components that work at different operating

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voltages. The components were chosen based on availability algorithms to determine the best route that is to be taken by
and ease of use during the prototyping stage. each collection vehicle during the collection process.

As the upload of data to the database is not critical, a real Data Item Type Description
time system is not used. This choice was made with the bin_id VARCHAR Unique identification number
consideration of the device’s battery life in mind. Instead, a of the bin
time based interval is used for the upload. The customisable entry_id INT The record number of the row
interval is set and the readings are performed and uploaded in the table
only after the set period has elapsed. This allows the battery
life of the Sensor node to be extended and in no way affects fill_level INT The fill level of the bin
the system as a whole as it is not reliant on real time data. tilt BIT Orientation of the bin
entrydate DATETIME Date&Time of upload
The prototype was implemented and data uploads to the date DATE Date of data capture
server from various locations were possible. The Sensor node time TIME Time of data capture
is also able to store a number of records in case any problems
with the connection to the database arise; it then uploads any Figure 6: Data stored on each upload
stored data to the database upon re-establishing the
connection. The use of the real time clock allows the data to V. RESULTS
be accurate, as the time of each reading is stored. This means After the successful implementation of the sensor node and
that even if the sensor node is not able to upload for a period data collection, an interface over which the data could be
of time, the useful data that can be used for analysis is still presented to the users was implemented along with the route
preserved in its full integrity. planning and data analysis functions. This allowed for many
of the features developed to be presented to the user in an
interface that is easy to use.
B. Database
A. Web interface
To identify each bin, each Sensor node is given a unique A website was developed that allows the user to view
Identification number (ID), this ID allows each bin to be information on the bins in a given area. Figure 7 shows a map
identified. A table of the data stored for each bin (Sensor node) with bins in different locations.
is shown in figure 5. The colour of the bin icon changes according to the level
Data Item Type Description
bin_id VARCHAR Unique
identification
number of the bin
location VARCHAR The name of the
location of the bin
bin_type VARCHAR The type of bin
latitude FLOAT Latitude position
of the bin
longitude FLOAT Longitudinal
position of the bin
zone VARCHAR The zone in which
the bin lies
status BIT Activation status of
Figure 7: Bin Icons on Map
the bin
to which it is filled. If the level is below 30% of the maximum,
update_frequency INT How frequent
the icon is green; over 30% and below 70% will display a
sensor data is
yellow icon, while anything over 70% will display a red icon.
captured
Clicking an icon will display additional information on the bin
Figure 5: Data Stored for each Node
as show in figure 7. The additional information displays the
Upon each upload the data is stored in a single table. Each
date and time of the last update recorded into the database, the
upload into the table contains the fields that are shown in fig 6.
type of bin (different bins have different dimensions), and the
Using the information uploaded into the database, it is percentage fill. The data collected from the prototype devices
possible to generate analytical information on each of the bins as well as some simulated data was used to demonstrate this
that are within the network. This allows the city authorities to functionality. The devices were placed in a room and the
have access to information that would otherwise be absent. In location of the devices set to be as shown in figure 7. The
addition, this information is also used in the route planning

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icons changed according to the content level of the bins as C. Data analysis and reports
required.
B. Route planning Over time, and as the data grows, analytical information
becomes more useful and thus the need for a system such as
this. By providing the city with information on the collection
There exist several methods by which the route planning
trends within the city, the authorities will be better able to
can be done. Of those identified, the ones most desirable are
route planning based on the fill level of the bins and route manage the limited resources with which they have to work.
planning based on the priority of the bins. A high priority bin is Figure 10, figure 11, and figure 12 show examples of the
one that may contain harmful substances or be in areas such as information that can be extracted from the recorded sensor
schools. data.
The route planning algorithm simply takes into account the The data collected allows many features to be added in the
starting location of the collection vehicle, the drop-off location, future, in addition to the already existing ones.
and the bins that are of a selected level. The User is therefore
able to select a level (e.g. more than half filled) and the
algorithm will plan the route passing through only the bins that
are above the selected level as well as the high priority bins.
This allows a more optimal route to be taken by the collectors
and thus allows many resources to be conserved. A feature that
is to be implemented is one that alerts the collectors of bins that
are below the specified collection level, but have not been
collected over a given duration. This mitigates the risk of items
such as food waste in a low-traffic area rotting before they are Figure 10: Weekly average fill for bins in each zone
collected.
The effect of the route planning can be seen in figure 8 and
figure 9. Figure 8 shows the route taken when bins with a fill
level of over 50 percent are taken into account, while figure 9
only considers those filled above 75%. The path taken is
significantly shorter and hence the advantage of the monitoring
system displayed. Both routes have the same start and end
locations.

Figure 11: Daily average fill for bins in different zones

Figure 8: Route taken with collection level of 50% and above

Figure 12: Monthly data collected for individual bin

An example of this is machine learning. It is possible to

predict many things with machine learning, and over time, it
will be possible (through the implementation of algorithms) to
predict the trends in the waste over a city. For example, over
the holiday seasons, waste may increase and the algorithms
Figure 9: Route taken with collection level of 75% and above
would be able to predict such changes and inform the

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collection authorities. This will allow additional resources to
be used only when needed. The generation of reports on the
individual bins or zones will allow the balancing of resources
to be made by properly distributing them based on the
historical data.
VI. CONCLUSION
The developed system is one that provides many useful
features for any city that wants to optimise its solid waste
collection process as well as reduce the overall cost of running
the collection. This not only gives the city’s waste authorities
the ability to handle their waste better, but also gives them the
ability to predict and plan better their resources. In addition, the
system will mitigate the risk of overfilled bins and unsanitary
conditions that are caused by the lack of information that is
present in the current collection process.
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