Smart cities: A case study in waste monitoring and management

This paper explores the potential of employing sensor enabled solutions to improve on waste monitoring and collectionin public trash bins. Through a user-centered design approach, an inexpensive monitoring system developed and tested in pilot study. The system consists of wireless nodes that use ultrasonic sensors to measure the empty space inthe bins, a sensor gateway that is based on Long Rage Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) protocol and cloud-basedback/front end for data collection, analysis and visualization.The system was evaluated through a pilot test, where six outdoor trash bins were remotely monitored at a universitycampus and a number of stakeholders were observed and interviewed.

The results show that the existing technologies are mature enough to be able to develop and implement inexpensive add-on sensors to exiting trash bins, and employing such a system can provide the necessary insights to optimize waste collection processes, to avoid overfilled bins, and to improve the experience of the citizens.