The intelligent waste container

Abstract

This work involved the design of an intelligent waste container that is capable of notifying the waste disposal company immediately they are filled to capacity so that they may be emptied. The central container collection system of waste disposal which is the main form of waste collection and disposal in most developing countries has rather led to filthy surroundings. This is because the waste containers provided in the communities are never emptied immediately, they get filled to capacity. To counter this problem, this system was designed to use short messaging service (SMS) technique to alert the waste disposal company of a container that is full. The system makes use of a sensor, microcontroller and a global system for mobile (GSM) module in order to function. An application that uses a SMS server is deployed at the offices of the waste management company to complete the system. The sensor detects whether the skip is full or not. The microcontroller controls when the text message is sent the moment the skip is full. The message that is sent is received on a console at the offices of the waste management company through the SMS server. The driver assigned to that skip is then dispatched to empty the skip.