Suchi Ahvana - an Interactive Smart Dustbin

Despite their appearance, dustbins occupy a critical position in any narrative of waste management. Being situated at the interface of private lives and household practices, on the one hand and public health and environmental management on the other, dustbin technologies provide a revealing indicator of waste relationships within society.

In describing key moments in the history of domestic dustbin, from the development of the ash pit privy in the late 1800’s through the standardization of movable metal bins in the 1900’s to the evolution of contemporary bin technologies, including “waste guzzling” wheelie bins, and diversified recycling bins, we track both the meanings of waste, and the shifting boundaries of its public and private management over time. All sorts of people drop litter, and there are many reasons given as to why this might be.

There are many theories as to what would stop people from littering. A survey is conducted to find out people’s view about the same

Questionnaire statistics:

• 75% people have problems with the current system of dustbins used.

• 82.14% people preferred closed dustbin with a movable lid.

• 85.71% people considered that the implementation of a feedback system would make the dustbins more efficient.

• 82.36% people considered that imposition of rules and regulations could help in minimizing the problem of littering.

• According to 75% people, human mindset is the reason for less frequent usage of dustbins.

• 80% of people feel that trash around the dustbin is one of the major problems.

From the survey it was concluded a design that would attract people and also reduce the trash spread around the dustbin is preferred to the existing one.

The name “Suchi Ahvana” taken from Sanskrit means “to evoke for cleanliness” well describes and suits the product as being its aim to increase the efficiency of the dustbin and reduce the trash spread around it in an open/closed public area it functions in the collection of waste ( by attracting people) and preventing it from falling out from the bin.
The basic problem that this design emphasizes is the mentality of people towards cleanliness and specifically towards dustbin. Due to various reasons either direct or indirect, like unpleasant view of dustbins, unhygienic surroundings and most importantly the growing nature of selfishness amongst people who do not care to take even a single step forward if the issue does not concerns them on a personal level with an immediate effect. All these with several others have set the pathway for losing the purpose of dustbin. So in order to put an element for evoking people for the same, as surveyed, all the slogans or banners or campaigns lose their purpose or spark after a period of time. Therefore, trying to hit the user with what he/she cares about most in today’s era is “himself/herself” and hunts for even a very small amount of benefit in every single thing around, we tried putting an element of attraction to the dustbin and made it interactive with the user providing suitable feedbacks to him/her as per his/her performance of throwing off or disposing the waste.

Step 1: Concept Exploration

Concept 1:

A circular disc is having a sliding contact with the outer wall of the dustbin. The disc has some inclination. The missed waste falls into the disc and gets collected. The disc is lifted up every half an hour to push the collected waste into the dustbin.

Concept 2:

Sweeping blades are provided at the vicinity of the dustbin. These sweep the waste near the dustbin which is then sucked by the vacuum cleaner attached to the bin.

Concept 3:

A dart board is installed in the dustbin. This board persuades a person to aim the waste at the circles printed on it. Hence most of the waste will fall into it. An inclined circular disk is placed as shown in the fig. The waste which fall down from the bin is collected in the disc and go inside the dustbin from the slots provided on the body of the bin. The main bin is placed separately as shown fig. for easy cleaning.

Step 2: Concept/Product Detailing

Body of the bin:

Selection: It is the crucial part of the bin in which all the waste is collected.

Allocation: It is the main supporting part which will be placed on the ground.

Interface: All the other components are in direct contact with this part.

Dartboard:

Selection: It is placed in order to attract people for efficient use of dustbin.

Allocation: It is placed in inclined position inside the dustbin at the opening.

Interface: It is in direct contact with the sensing circuit and the main body.

Support for Dartboard:

Selection: It is required to give support to the dartboard.

Allocation: Axially connected to the frame through the centre of the dartboard.

Interface: Directly connected to the dartboard and the main body.

Sensing Circuit:

Selection: To sense the position at which the dart board is hit and send a suitable signal to the output circuit.

Allocation: Directly connected to the dart board.

Interface: In interface with the dartboard and the output circuit.

Audio output circuit:

Selection: To provide appropriate audio feedback based on the input signal received from the sensing circuit.

Allocation: Directly connected to sensing circuit output.

Interface: Connected to Dart board and placed inside the main body.

Frustum Cap :

Selection: To prevent waste from falling outside the dustbin.

Allocation: Placed around the dustbin (connected to the bin directly) towards the opening.

Interface: Connected directly to the bin and covers the slotted sections in an inclined position.

Collecting Bin:

Selection: It is the actual bin where the trash is accumulated.

Allocation : It is placed in the section provided in the outer body of the bin.

Interface: It is directly placed inside section provided in the outer body as shown in the

Step 3: Materials Used for Fabrication

The fabrication process of the prototype of our final product included several stages and the use of variety of materials.

Hard cardboard cylinder: It has been used in the fabrication of the outer covering as well as the collecting bin of the dustbin. It was collected from a local scrap dealer.

: It has been used in the fabrication of the secondary system which was bought from the market.

Ply: It has been used as the base of the collecting bin as well as the outer covering of the dustbin.

Fiber Sheet: A fiber sheet of thickness around 2 mm has been used in the fabrication of the dart board.

Arduino 328: It is a microcontroller which acts as the soul of entire electronic circuit. It has been used to generate appropriate signals based on the region of the dartboard hit by the user, thus providing the user with a suitable feedback.

Laser Lights: The laser lights were bought from the market and have been used in the construction of the sensor circuit.

LDR (Light Dependent Resistor): This component was bought from the market as well and has been used in the construction of the sensor circuit.

Feedback circuit components: This circuit is comprised of Leds and 8 ohm speaker.

Other electronic components: Other electronic components include jumper wires, connecting wires, batteries.

Step 4: Product Exploration and Working

The attraction for people was designed and conceptualized with the implementation of the concept of “Dart Game” into the dustbin. The very concept of “Dart Game” was only taken or thought because as surveyed, in today’s world of rush and hurry, first of all, hardly some people make proper use of dustbins and even if they do or remaining others try to do, they do not have the time or rather do not care so much to reach out for it and dispose of the waste properly. All they are seen and observed doing is aiming for the dustbin or rather throwing the garbage towards it without caring even a bit if it went well inside or just fell somewhere around it. So, this concept of “Dart Game” attracts the user to aim right inside the dustbin and the interactive feedback system providing suitable feedbacks to him/her as per his/her performance of throwing off or disposing the waste evokes him/her for its judicious use.

Also, the sole purpose of installing a dustbin and being able to collect waste properly is further achieved by the installation of a “Secondary System” which further traps the waste, prevents it from falling down and then helps in getting it back inside the dustbin.