IT-DREPS Conference, Amman, Jordan Dec 6-8, 2017

IoT-Enabled Citizen Attractive Waste Management

System

Muhannad Al-Jabi Mohammad Diab

Computer Engineering Department Software Engineering Department
An-Najah National University Code Sky Technology
Nablus, Palestine Nablus, Palestine
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract— Current cities worldwide have a goal to be with RFID reader that helps the driver to collect the
smarter cities, but one of the most important challenges that information of each bin he dumped in the truck.
faces cities nowadays is the waste processing. And there are two
factors directly affect this challenge are: the increasing of urban
areas and the rapid growth of population. So, it seems evident, In [4], an advanced Decision Support System (DSS) for
the investment in involving the citizens in the interaction with efficient waste collection in Smart Cities is proposed. The
any future waste management system will save a lot of money
system incorporates a model for data sharing between truck
and efforts. Especially, in the developing countries, citizen needs
drivers on real time in order to perform waste collection and
some encouragement to interact with modern systems and make
him use it in everyday life.
dynamic route optimization. The system handles the case of
ineffective waste collection in inaccessible areas within the
Due to the growth of IoT technology, there is an increasing Smart City.
need and importance to design and implement waste In [5], the proposed system consists of smart bins, such that
management systems that attract and involve the citizens in the each smart bin consists of fill out sensor and IoT unit. Such that
waste management process.
the sensors detect the filling level of the bin and the IoT sends
these reading to the cloud. in the control center, the readings
The aim of this paper is to present the design of
from the bins are analyzed and the best route for the waste
attractive waste management that uses IoT devices, RFID collecting truck is generated based on the bins locations and
tags, weight and ultrasonic sensors to measure the citizen filling levels. And the route information is forwarded to the
interaction with the waste management process. truck collection driver.
Keywords— Wase Management systems, RFID, IoT. In this paper we will present the design of a waste
management system that focuses on the social aspects of the
I. INTRODUCTION waste management systems such that our system uses IoT
devices with RFID tags, weight and ultrasonic sensors to
Due to the rapid increasing of population as well the measure the citizen interaction with the waste management
increasing of the urban areas in cities nowadays, waste process.
management considered as one of the most important factors
that affect the economy. Because providing an effective and The rest of the paper is organized as follows: in section II
efficient system to the citizens becomes a challenge for the system architecture, section III components interaction and in
municipalities due to lack of financial recourses [1]. section IV conclusion.
Therefore, solving such problem should be solved by
involving different aspects together: social, technical and II. SYSTEM ARCHETECTURE
financial [3]. For example, it seems evident that the citizen In this section, we will propose a waste management
awareness and attraction should be involved with technical system that focuses on the attraction for the citizens through
solutions. interaction and encouragement to make citizens more
collaborative in the waste management process.
Since the rising importance of waste management systems
on the environment and human health and due to the growth of In this system, each bin will be equipped with an IoT
technology such as the presence of IoT and RFID, many device, weight sensor, ultrasonic sensor, solar cell, RFID
researchers tried to design waste management systems. reader and two light emitting diodes as indicators, such that one
of these indicators colored by red and the other colored by
in [2], an RFID based waste management system was
green. Where every citizen who wants to interact with the
presented such that each waste bin contains an RFID tag.
system should have an RFID card associated with a credential
Where the driver of the truck that collects the bins has PDA
for the citizen, such that the credential contains his mobile

978-1-5386-1986-5/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

 IT-DREPS Conference, Amman, Jordan Dec 6-8, 2017

number and password. Each time the citizen wants to put trash 6) Solar cell: each bin has a solar cell attached in order
in the bin, he should use the RFID card for identification to the charge the battery of the attached IoT unit.
RFID reader attached to the bin. And the weight and ultrasonic 7) Application server: a cloud based hosted application
sensors measure the weight and the size of the trash inserted to server that contains a MYSQL database of the system as well
the bin. Then, the IoT unit attached to the bin sends these
PHP to interact with the IoT units, citizens and with the
readings to the application server and the citizen receives an
acknowledgment about the transaction completion either by drivers of the trash collecting trucks.
SMS or through push notification on a mobile application. 8) GIS server: GIS servers some time may be needed to to
Moreover, the citizen credential is used to let the citizen to log provide a custom map service in case the region is not fully
on to the system through the web application or through the covered by a third party mapping service such as google.
mobile application to monitor his interaction history and his 9) Tablet application inside the waste collecting truck:
awarded points. Where the awarded points to every citizen can this application helps the driver to browse the trash bins in the
be converted to municipal facilities or services. geographical zone and the filling state of each bin.
In addition, each waste collecting truck is dedicated for a 10) IoT unit inside the waste collecting truck: this unit is
specific geographical zone(s), such that the driver has a tablet connected to a microcontroller to control the waste
with an application installed to show him the filling state of the evacuation door and the dumping engine.
bins allocated on a map for the specified geographical zone. In 11) Accelerometer inside the bin: this accelerometer is
addition, each waste collecting truck has an IoT unit connected used to notify about any movement of the bin. In addition, it is
to a microcontroller to control the dumping and evacuation used to verify the starting and ending of the dumping process.
process, such that, the truck cannot dump a bin unless the truck
and bin are on the same location, as well, the truck cannot
perform the waste evacuation process unless the truck reached Thereafter, we will now describe the database entities,
the waste evacuation station. where the database contains the following tables: -
On the other hand, the IoT unit in each bin synchronously
1) Bin_Update: this table is used to store the bin latest
and asynchronously sends the filling state of that bin to the
application server. Such that the filling state information is sent information sent by the IoT unit. Therefore, it contains the
periodically as well every time a citizen inserts trash in the bin. following columns: -
The application server in turn forwards this information to the • Bin_ID: this column is used to store the ID of each bin.
waste collecting truck and displays that information on the • Current_Weight: to identify Current Weight of the bin.
tablet application map. Moreover, each waste collecting truck
sends synchronous updates, such as location updates to the • Filling_Status: this column is used to store the filling
application server. As well each waste collecting truck sends percentage of the bin, such that, if the bin is fully filled
asynchronous updates to the application server, such as, when then this column contains 100 for that bin.
the truck performs bin dumping or waste evacuation.
Moreover, each waste collecting truck contains an IoT unit and • Time_stamp: this column is used to store timestamp of
a controller to control the waste evacuation door and the the latest update received from the bin.
dumping engine, such that, the evacuation door cannot be • Latitude: this column is used to store the latitude for the
opened unless the truck is inside the waste evacuation station latest known location of the bin.
as well the dumping engine will not run unless the truck in the
same location as the desired bin. • Longitude: this column is used to store the longitude for
the latest known location of the bin.
Let us now to conclude the system main components, as
shown in Fig.1, the system consists of: • Battary_Level: this column is used to store the battery
level of IoT unit.
1) Weight sensors: each bin contains a weight sensor to
detect the weight of the trash inside the bin. • Last_Dump_time: this column is used to store the
2) Ultrasonic sensors: each bin contains an ultrasonic timestamped of the latest dump performed for the bin.
sensor to detect the volume of the trash inside the bin. • Truck_ID: this column is used to store the id of the
3) RFID readers: each bin has an RFID reader attached waste collecting truck which performed the latest dump
to let the citizen be identified to the system through his RFID operation on the bin.
card.
4) RFID cards: every citizen wants to interact with the
system, should have an RFID card to let that citizen be
identified to the system.
5) IoT Units: each bin contains an IoT unit that collects
the readings from the sensors as well from the RFID reader
and sends that readings to the application server through the
internet.
 IT-DREPS Conference, Amman, Jordan Dec 6-8, 2017

• Station_ID: this column is used to store the id of the

waste evacuation station at which the truck should
evacuate the waste.
• Capacity: this column is used to store capacity of the
truck

5) Stations: this table is used to store the waste evacuation

stations management information. Therefore it contains the
following columns:-
• Station_ID: this column is used to store the id of the
waste evacuation station.
• Station_Name: this column is used to store the name of
the waste evacuation station.
• Latitude: this column is used to store the latitude for the
waste evacuation station.
• Longitude: this column is used to store the longitude for
Fig.1:System main components and interaction between these
components
the waste evacuation station.

2) Bin_info:this table is used to store the bins management 6) Zones: this table is used to store the geographical zones
information. Therefore it contains the following columns: management information. Therefore it contains the following
• Bin_ID: this column is used to store the serial number columns:-
of the bin.
• Zone_ID: this column is used to store the id of the
• Bin_Capacity: this column is used to store the bin geographical zone.
capacity.
• Zone_Name: this column is used to store the name of
• IoT_Device_ID: this column is used to store the mac the geographical zone.
address of the IoT unit attached to the bin.
• Min_Longitude: this column is used to store the
• Zone_ID: this column is used to store the id for the minimum longitude of geographical zone.
geographical zone which the bin is located in.
• Min_Latitude: this column is used to store the minimum
latitude of geographical zone.
3) Waste_Collecting_Truck_Trackig: this table is used to
• Max_Longitude: this column is used to store the
record the operations of each waste collecting truck maximum longitude of geographical zone.
operations, therefore it contains the following columns:
• Truck_ID: this column is used to store the id of the • Max_Latitude: this column is used to store the
truck. maximum latitude of geographical zone.
• Latitude: this column is used to store the latitude for the
latest known location of the truck. 7) Citizen_Points:this table is used to store the citizen
collaboration log and the awarded points for that citizen, such
• Longitude: this column is used to store the longitude for that each time a citizen put a trash in a bin, a new row in this
the latest known location of the truck.
table is inserted:-
• Operation_ID: this column is used to store the id of the • Citizin_ID: this column is used to store the id of the
operation that being performed by the truck, such that it citizen which could be his mobile number.
stores 0 for location update, 1 for bin dumping and 2 for
waste evacuation. • Trash_Weight: this column is used to store the weight
of the trash that the citizen put in the bin.
• Time_stamp: this column is used to store timestamp of
the latest update received from the Truck. • Trash_Size: this column is used to store the size of the
trash that the citizen put in the bin.
4) Truck: this table is used to store the waste collecting
trucks management information. Therefore it contains the • Bin_ID: this column is used to store the id of the bin at
following columns:- which the citizen put his trash.
• Truck_ID: this column is used to store the tuck plate
• Awarded_Points: this column is used to store the
number.
cumulative awarded points to the citizen.
 IT-DREPS Conference, Amman, Jordan Dec 6-8, 2017

III. COMPONENTS INTERACTION

In this section, we will describe the interaction between
system components. Therefore, firstly we will show the the
interaction performed when a citizen puts trash in the bin. As
shown in Fig.2:-
1) The citizen puts his RFID card close to the RFID
reader attached to the bin.
2) The IoT unit attached to the bin sends the RFID
information entered by the RFID reader to the application
server.
3) The application server checks wither the RFID
information is registered for a certain citizen or not. If yes, the
application server sends to the IoT unit that the citizen is
identified, then the IoT unit signals the green led to light. If no,
the application server sends to the IoT unit that this citizen is
not identified, then the IoT unit signals the red led to light.
4) On the bin there are two leds; green led and red led.
Therfore if the received reply from the application server that
the citizen is identified, then the green led will light. And if the
received reply that the ciziten is not identified, the red led will
light.
5) Once the citizen ovserves the light of the green led, he
put the trash in the bin.
6) After the citizen puts his trash in the bin he will receive
either an SMS or push notification message that comfirms the
process success.

Secondly, we will show the interaction performed between

the system components when the filling status of the bin
reaches certain threshold. As shown in Fig.3, each bin sends
the filling status with in synchronous and asynchronous update Fig.3: Interaction flowchart when filling status reachs certain thresholds
to the application server. Consequently, the application server
updates the color of each bin on the map of the tablet Thirdly, we will show the interaction process performed by
application located in the waste collecting truck. Such that as the waste collecting truck. The truck sends synchronous
long as the filling status is below 50%, the color of the bin updates to the application server such as location updates. As
stays green. If the filling status is between 50% and 80%, the well it sends asynchronous updates each time an operation
color of the bin stays yellow. But, once the filling status performed such as bin dumping or truck waste evacuation. As
reaches 80%, a continuous alert with dropdown list starts on shown in Fig.4, once the truck reaches a bin to be dumped, the
the main screen of the tablet application and the color of the driver clicks the icon of that bin on the map. Then the
bin icon on the map becomes blinking red. application verifies wither the truck and the bin are in the same
location. Once the location is verified, the dumping process
starts and both the truck and the bin send asynchronous update
to the application server, such that, bin detects the starting of
the dumping process through an accelerometer. Therefore, if a
waste collecting truck already sent a bin dumping location
verification, then the dumping process starts smoothly. But, if
there is no truck is already sent a bin dumping location
verification, that means a theft or illegal movement is being
performed on on the bin and the system fires an alarm. Once
the Truck being full and it needs to evacuate the waste, the
driver presses the evacuate button on the tablet application, the
truck sends an asynchronous update to the application server,
where the application server decides wither the truck is inside
the waste evacuation station or not. If the Truck is inside the
waste evacuation station, the application server sends a
Fig.2: interaction when citizen puts trash in the bin. command to the IoT unit inside the truck to alter a controller to
open the evacuation door.
 IT-DREPS Conference, Amman, Jordan Dec 6-8, 2017

interaction with the system and give him points according to

that interaction. Moreover, our system provides a control
mechanism for the waste collection trucks, such that it has a
control that verifies the location for dumping and evacuation
processes before it permits any process to start.
Our future work, to to introduce algorithms that take in
consideration the filling rate of each bin, the truck location and
the shortest path in order the threshold for each bin as well to
optimize the bin dumping process.

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