Swachh Bharat meets Digital India - now, solar trash cans that send alerts when full

The Centre may use its Digital India project in conjunction with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to install solar-powered trash cans which send alerts to the sanitation crew once they are full. Waste management is an integral part of India’s biggest cleanliness campaign. Open, overflowing dustbins are still a harsh reality. India needs a smart waste management solution for efficient sorting of waste and identifying recyclable disposed products.

A report in The Economic Times states, the government has asked for suggestions from citizens’ to come up with such a waste management solution.The idea being floated is to use Internet of Things (IoT) — an integration of small devices linked by a web-based system which can send signals through sensors and interact with an online system.

The government plans a solution for installing such devices on specially-designed trash cans in major urban centres across the country which will be solar-powered to emit signals to the online system once full so that sanitation crews are dispatched to the spot.

“Waste management is an important requirement for ecologically sustainable development. Efficient sorting of waste is a major issue in today’s society,” the government has said in a post on the prime minister’s MyGov portal asking for citizen suggestions for such a project. “To assist the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiative, projects may be set up to create products which are solar-powered trash receptacle and trash compactor that alerts sanitation crews of municipal authorities, when it is full,” the post under Digital India project says, asking for a technology-based solution to ensure wastes are properly disposed and collected.

“We would like to welcome your ideas on how a smart waste management system using IoT can be implemented in order to achieve the target of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan,” the government has said. Abroad, trash cans installed by Big Belly, communicate with a cloud-based web application for constant updates on their waste levels – they come with an attached bin for recyclable waste. The Indian government is also concerned over an e-waste management solution. “E-Waste (electrical and electronic devices) is of immediate and long term concern as the industry is unregulated and recycling can lead to major environmental degradation posing a major threat to human health,” the government post says.

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