Int. Conf.

on Signal, Image Processing Communication & Automation, ICSIPCA

Smart Garbage Monitoring System Using Node MCU

Mamatha Dhananjaya1, Priyanka.K.E2, Nidhi.R3, Pooja.K4
1
Asst. Prof, dept. Electronics and communication Engg.,Global Academy of Technology, Bengaluru, India
[email protected]
2,3,4
Students,dept. Electronics and communication Engg.,Global Academy of Technology, Bengaluru, India
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract— GARBAGE MONITORING is it a big problem? Yes if not disposed properly.

With the increased concern about the garbage collection, segregation, effective re-utilization
and pollution free environment there is a need for TECHNOLOGY to tackle the situation.
What is to be done regarding the issue? Timely disposal and segregation of waste into dry
and wet before dumping into bins is implemented using NodeMCU (MicroController Unit).
As soon as the bin is filled, it should be brought to the notice of municipality department so
that it can be taken to garbage monitoring plants before the bins are covered with flies,
rodents, most importantly before it smells foul polluting the city environment. This can also
save fuel of trucks.

Index Terms— Keywords- IoT, NodeMCU, Sensors, Smart city, Garbage, Thinkspeak.

I. INTRODUCTION
The internetworking of physical world and sensors are described as Internet of Things (IoT). These physical
devices are connected to wireless or wired internet connections i.e., IoT is connection of embedded systems
to internet. The basic Embedded system consists of sensors examples Temperature, Humidity, Light,
Ultrasound, IR, RF, Metal sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope and other inputs like switches, Keypads,
Timers to the microcontroller e.g., 8051, ATMEG 168, 68HC11 and output from these to Actuators, Relays,
switches, PWM, notification as Buzzers, LEDs. Memory mapped IO devices like RFID, GSM. Display units
like seven segment display, LCD, graphic display units etc.
The ideas of inter-connected devices or smart devices are designed to bridge the gap between the physical
and digital world to improve the quality and productivity of life, society and industries. The most important
application is the smart city next is the smart home and wearable on the internet, and these devices will use
this data to interact with you on daily basis and complete tasks. Because of growing population of the world
smart city application takes very important role. The smart city applications are smart surveillance, water
distribution, smart security, environmental monitoring and smart waste management system. IoT will solve
major problems faced by the people living in cities like pollution, traffic congestion and shortage of energy
supplies, waste management system etc. We are interested in development of products like Smart Bin that
will send alerts through cellular communication to municipal services when a bin needs to be emptied.
In recent times, garbage disposal has become a huge cause for concern in the world. A voluminous amount of
waste that is generated is disposed by means which have an adverse effect on the environment. The common
method of disposal of the waste is by unplanned and uncontrolled open dumping at the landfill sites. This
method is injurious to human health, plant and animal life. The purpose of this project is the realization of a

Grenze ID: 02.ICSIPCA.2017.1.38

© Grenze Scientific Society, 2017
compact, low cost and user friendly segregation system for urban households to streamline the waste
management process.
In this paper we introduce an IoT based Waste management system to achieve effective dynamic waste
collection. This system consists of two Smart-Bins; one is for dry waste collection and second is for wet
collection. We use Thingspeak for analysis data and user friendly GUI (Graphical User Interface) to send the
information to the municipal office. The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 deals with
related works on IoT based waste management system. Section 3 describes about the sensors used in the
implementation of smart-bin. Section 4 describes about the block diagram of the smart-bin. Section 5
describes about the implementation of Smart-bin. Sections 6 gives the result of each sensor output and also
results of data analysis using Thingspeak and also presents evaluation performance with the Android app,
while Section 7 concludes the paper and discusses future work.

II. RELATED WORK

The architecture of Smart bin system [1] can be analyzed as three-tier architecture: outdoor nodes, analytics,
and workstation. Through the test bed, collected data and applied algorithms, litter bin utilization and litter
bin daily information was obtained. With such analytics, litter bin distributors and cleaning contractors are
able to make better decision to increase productivity and efficiency. The disadvantage of this paper is the
sensor node had limited memory size. This had an effect on the size of the program running on the sensor
node.
IoT based architectural solution to tackle the problems faced by the present solid waste management system
[2]. By providing a complete IoT based system, the process of tracking, collecting, and managing the solid
waste can be easily automated and controlled effectively. The bins will be fitted with IR sensors to detect the
level of Garbage collected. A gas sensor will be used to detect the presence of any harmful gases, a load cell
is used to measure the weight of the bin, and indicators like LEDs and LCD will be used for notifications.
The disadvantages of this paper are the protocol overhead is extremely small and is only of 2 bytes. It also
requires very less bandwidth, making it the idle protocol for their system.
An embedded based intelligent alert system [3] is devised for the proper monitoring and maintenance of the
garbage. This system averts the irregular cleaning of the dustbins by sending alerts to the concerned
individual at regular intervals. Arduino UNO R3 is used as the microcontroller to read the data from the
ultrasonic sensor. It is programmed to send an alert to the Thing Speak web server once the garbage reaches a
certain distance. An RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader is interfaced with the Arduino for the
verification process. The ultrasonic sensor checks the status of the dustbin and sends it to the web server. An
android application is used to view the alerts and status at the Server end.
The waste management proposed [4] mainly consists of 8051 micro controller, IR Sensors, RF module,
Processor Intel Galileo Gen2. The principle involved here is the IR sensors senses whether the bin is full or
not, this data is sent to RF transmitter via 8051 micro controller .then RF receiver collects data from various
transmitters and sends it to Galileo Gen2 micro controller , it process the data and send it to client, web
server. Waste Level is detected inside the dustbin, transmit the information wirelessly to concerned people
under in charge, the data can be accessed anytime and from anywhere. Major drawbacks are, it checks only
for the level of garbage and no other aspect. This proposal does not deal in detail how the waste management
is done once after sending message.
The solid waste management [5] mainly makes use of RFID, GPS, and Microcontroller, GSM, and
Ultrasonic sensors. The main principle involved is the level of garbage is detected by ultrasonic sensors or
load cells. The output of which is sent to municipal office through SMS using GSM modem, location of the
dustbin is tracked through GPS module. This method provides a way to separate 5 types of plastic using NIR
(near infrared reflectance spectroscopy); it also suggests a way of extracting biogas from organic waste. The
drawbacks are the separation of different kinds of plastic is not included at the time of collection of waste,
moreover it does not include organic waste collection, method to obtain biogas is suggested which is not
required.

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III. THE SENSORS
A. Ultrasonic Sensor
The device called ultra sonic sensor is used to detect the distance from which the object is separated from it.
The principle behind this is it sends out the sound waves and it waits for reflection of sound wave from the
object under consideration. By noting down the time lag between the sent and received wave, it is actually
possible to measure the distance of object from the sonar sensor.

Figure.1 Basic Ultrasonic Sensor Figure.2 Ultrasonic Sensor

As we know that sound wave travels through air at a speed of 344m/s, to find the round trip distance of sound
wave, the return time is multiplied by 344. Round trip distance refers to the twice the distance of the object
from the sensor. The actual distance is calculated by diving round trip distance by 2.
Distance= (speed of sound x time taken)/2
It should be noted that not all objects are detected by sensor due its shape wherein some waves get reflected
back, size might be very small and the positioning angle also plays a role in detection of object. Some objects
such as cloths, carpeting absorb the waves, where there is no way for detection of such objects. These are the
factors to be noted.
B. Pir Sensor :
PIR sensor is an electronic sensor used to detect the motion of human being within a certain range of the
sensor. Pyroelectric sensors that detect the levels of infrared radiation are used to make PIR sensors.
Working: Whenever, human being moves in the field of view of PIR sensor, it detects the infrared radiation
emitted by a hot body motion as shown in figure.3. Thus, the infrared radiation detected by the sensor
generates an electrical signal that is used to activate an alert system or alarm sound.

Figure.3 PIR Sensor working Figure.4PIRSensor

The PIR sensor internally is divided into two halves, one half is positive and the other is negative. Thus, one
half generates one signal by detecting the motion of a hot body and other half generates another signal. The
difference between these two signals is generated as output signal. Primarily, this sensor consists of Fresnel
lens which is bifurcated to detect the infrared radiation produced by the motion of hot body over a wide range
or specific area as shown in fig.4. Once the motion is detected, the output goes high for a couple of seconds

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and then returns to a normal state or low. This sensor requires settling time, which is in the range of 10 to 60
seconds.
C. Moisture Sensor:
The volumetric water content of soil is measured by using moisture sensor, making it ideal for performing
experiments in courses such as soil science, Agricultural science, environmental science, horticulture, botany,
and biology. The Soil Moisture Sensor uses capacitance to measure dielectric permittivity of the surrounding
medium. The sensor creates a voltage which is proportional to the dielectric permittivity of the water content
of the soil. The sensor averages the water content over its entire length. There is a 2 cm zone of influence
with respect to the flat surface of the sensor. The figure above shows the electromagnetic field lines along a
cross section of the sensor, illustrating the 2 cm zone of influence.

Figure.4 Internal structure of Moisture Sensor Figure.5 Moisture Sensor

IV. PROPOSED SMART-BIN

A. System Architecture:
Waste management can be broadly categorized as: segregation, collection, and transportation. Segregation of
the solid waste can be done at the root level where the citizens segregate the waste according to wet, dry and
medical waste and dump the garbage to the respective garbage bins placed at their homes. The bins will be
fitted with ultrasonic sensors to detect the level of garbage collected. A moisture sensor will be used to detect
the presence of moisture, PIR sensor is used to detect the movements of any rodents in the vicinity of the
garbage bins and indicators like LEDs and LCD will be used for notifications. The sensors will be interfaced
to NodeMCU that will collect the sensor data and send it to ThingSpeak cloud where the data will be
collected. Based on the data collected, the maintenance person of that apartment gets a message. The
message displays the levels of bins of all houses, so that he can be alerted to collect the garbage. Bio-
degradable waste will be used as manure for gardens in the apartment.
B. Block Diagram
The smartest, easiest, cleanest and simplest home segregation method can be achieved through smart bin
concept. Intelligent Monitoring is the IoT solution that is revolutionizing how Smart Cities and private
companies service their container assets. Presence of Optimistic logistic resources which reduces collection
and delivery costs by up to 50%.This self responsible work of environment concerned citizens makes life
easier for rack pickers, workers of municipal corporation. This method also avoids spreading of diseases,
breading of mosquito and other rodent’s .The outlook of the city also improves with this approach, builds
healthier environment, healthier citizen’s, beautiful surroundings
Our bin is designed for each apartment’s use, the compounder gets alerts from different apartment to collect
the waste regularly so that it doesn’t stink and the garbage is disposed properly even if the apartment owner
is busy or out at work etc. Our module consists of 3 ultrasonic sensors, 1 pir sensor, 1moisture sensor fitted
on to the inner side of bin cap, protected from waste. These sensors can actually sense the waste that in the
bin, each sensor delivers message regarding different aspect of sensor. Ultrasonic sensor notifies the level of
bin, i.e. whether the bin is filled or not depending on which the compounder decides to empty it. The pir
sensor detects for any rodents in the bin as it can detect motion of objects, moisture sensor differentiate
between wet and dry waste and sends data appropriately. These sensors data is then sent to thing speak, data
analytics will be accessible to compounder, the data is sent to his mobile phone via virtuino (associated with
thing speak) app where there is different alarm sounds for different apartment, indicates him to empty that
particular bin.

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 Figure.7.Block Diagram of working module in bin

V. FLOW CHART
Sensors values are loaded depending on height, moisture and motion of a person. The PIR sensor and
Moisture sensor checks whether it is greater than or equal to its maximum value if so there is buzzer. All the
3 sensors values are sent to thingspeak via wifi module and the values can be visualized through graph. The
values in thingspeak are sent Android app where if the ultrasonic value is greater than maximum value then
there is alarm. If the sensors don’t exceed their maximum value then it will check for sensor values again.

Figure.8 Implemented flow chart

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A. NodeMCU:
NodeMCU is an open source IoT platform. It uses the Lua(it is a lightweight multi-paradigm
programming language designed primarily for embedded systems and clients.) scripting language.NodeMCU
is built on the ESP8266 SDK 1.4 and based on eLua(Extraterritorial Land Use Authority) project. The
firmware on which NodeMCU works is ESP8266 Wi-Fi SoC(System On Chip)and the hardware is based on
the ESP-12 module NODEMCU can be programmed using Arduino IDE

Figure.9 Nodemcu Figure.10 Pin configuration

TABLE I. DETAIL OF NODEMCU

ESP8266 Open source

Developer
community

Single-board
Type
microcontroller

Operating system XTOS

CPU ESP8266

Memory 128kBytes

Storage 4MBytes

Power USB

NodeMCU is developed by ESP8266 open source community. It is a single board microcontroller with
operating system XTOS, CPU version ESP8266.It consists of 128Kbytes of memory with storage of
4Mbytes.It is powered by USB.
B. Arduino Uno:
The open source called Arduino providing interface between computer hardware and software companies and
project oriented for community of users working with microcontroller kits , IoT related works wherein
involving interaction and information collection from objects in the physical world. The products of the
project are distributed as open-source hardware and software, which are licensed under the GNU(is an
operating system and an extensive collection of computer software), Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
or the GNU General Public License (GPL), manufacturing of which is permitted by Arduino boards and
software distribution to any licensed person.

VI. RESULT ANALYSIS

The circuit diagram and graphical analysis obtained from thingspeak and virtuino regarding different sensors
are shown as follows. As per the predefined threshold values we get the alarm beep along with door number,

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considering the range of the sensor (ultrasonic-value depends upon the height of the bin, pir-1 for motion
detected, 0 for motion not detected, moisture – 1024 for dry waste, the value decreases for wet waste).

Figure.10 circuit connection Figure.11 Output on Thingspeak

Figure.12 Output from Virtuino App

VII. CONCLUSION
The multispecialty smart bin designed above can lead to an Eco-friendly, clean and healthy surrounding. This
implementation can efficiently deal the problem of waste disposal which has been proved to be great threat to
any developing country. The top 4 developed countries spent most of their economy on effective waste
management, recycling and disposal. Proper integrated work force can work collectively with distributed
networks located all over the city for timely and fast decision making based on analytical data collected from
sensors alarm alerts from virtuino, bins shall also be provided with GPS connectivity for tracking the exact
location . Further we continue the work to provide message interfacing to know the condition of the bin. In
addition to this we are trying a method to detect sanitary and medical related wastes in order to segregate it
separately.

REFERENCES
[1] “Smart bin: Smart Waste Management System”, 2015 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Intelligent Sensors,
Sensor Networks and Information Processing (ISSNIP) Demo and Video. Singapore, 7-9 April 2015.

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[2] Abhay Shankar baradwaj, Rainer Rego, “IoT Based Solid Waste Management System” A conceptual approach with
an architectural solution as a smart city application,2016,1-6
[3] Dr.N.Sathish, Kumar,B,.Vijaylakshmi,R.Jenifer, Prarthana,A.Shankar ,”IOT Based Smart Garbage Alert System
Using Arduino UNO,2016 IEEE Region 10 Conference,Page no 1028-1034.
[4] Prakash, Prabu, “Iot based waste management for smart city”, International journal of Innovative Reseach in
Computer and Communication Engineering, vol.4, Issue 2, February 2016, 1267-1274.
[5] Mansi Waikar, Rajat Lashkare, Rushabh Mutha, Shreekar Vidwans, “A Review on Solid Waste management using
smart bin”, International journal of Innovative Reseach in Computer and Communication Engineering, vol.4, Issue
11, November 2016, 19203-19207.

BIOGRAPHIES

Mamatha Dhananjaya has completed B.E from Bangalore University, Karnataka. She also received
M.Tech in Digital communication and networking from VTU , Belagavi, Karnataka and pursuing PhD
in area of IoT from VTU, Belagavi, Karnataka. Her area of interest is Internet of Things, Could
computing and Signal Processing. She is currently working as Asst. Prof. at Global Academy of
Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka,

Priyanka K E is currently pursuing third year B.E in Electronics and Communication Engineering at
Global Academy of Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka. Her areas of interest are IoT and Signal
Processing

Nidhi.R is currently pursuing third year B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering at Global
Academy of Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka. Her areas of interest are IoT and Communication.

Pooja.K is currently pursuing third year B.E. in Electronics and Communication Engineering at Global
Academy of Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka. Her areas of interest are IoT and application
development.

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