An IOT based Reverse Vending Machine for Beverage Container Recycling

Pakistan is a developing country, and it is facing lots of challenges. Nowadays, one of the major problems faced by the country is pollution, more specifically land pollution that is destroying the habitat of animals, plants and humans. Plastic pollution is one of the major contributor in the land p

Project Title

An IOT based Reverse Vending Machine for Beverage Container Recycling

Project Area of Specialization

Electrical/Electronic Engineering

Project Summary

Pakistan is a developing country, and it is facing lots of challenges. Nowadays, one of the major problems faced by the country is pollution, more specifically land pollution that is destroying the habitat of animals, plants and humans. Plastic pollution is one of the major contributor in the land pollution. According to an estimate, it takes almost 450 years to decompose. It has fatal effects on human and marine life, 

Our idea emphasizes land pollution caused by beverage bottles. There is no efficient and cost-effective solution to control plastic pollution in the country. On a smaller scale, plastic decomposition is a lengthy process, and, in our country, there are very few plastic decomposition plants available. Tons of plastic is piled up in junk yards and they are totally filled with no space left.

When a plastic bottle is not recycled, it can either get collected in the landfills or flow into the oceans. The bottle that is collected in a landfill stays there for a long time as it cannot decompose on its own. When it rains in those landfills, plastic absorbs the highly toxic water-soluble compounds which combine together to make a highly dangerous strew called Leachate. It can sweep down to ground water, soil, and streams thus poisoning the whole ecosystem. The bottle that does not end up in a landfill goes to the oceans. This plastic is consumed by sea life and passes on to the whole food chain.

In contrast to the above two scenarios, the plastic bottle that is recycled goes through an entirely different process. In recycling, the plastic bottles are collected and compressed to pass them through shredders so that they can be converted into the flakes. These flakes are used as raw material to make different plastic products rather than destroying the food chains and environment.

Beverage bottles are recyclable but there is no proper system available. Bottles are collected manually for recycling. Reverse Vending Machine is one of the solutions which can be used to reduce labor work of manual collection. We can make it as a base and install machines at accessible points to reduce pollution. 

Our Project is to develop a Reverse Vending Machine that would take in beverage containers usually made of plastic, glass, and tin. Users will get a reward for depositing the beverage container into the machine. Rewards will be in the shape of cash, voucher, or a coupon. This project will be effective in collecting plastic and other beverage containers. Reverse vending machines have already been installed in different countries and have proven to be very successful.

Project Objectives

•    To design and develop an IOT based Reverse Vending Machine to recycle beverage containers such as Plastic bottles, Glass bottles and Tin or Aluminum cans.
•    To develop an Image Processing-based system to separate containers according to their material such as Plastic, Glass and Tin cans.
•    To develop a system to sort transparent and colored plastic bottles using Image Processing.
•    To design a mechanism to remove plastic bottles caps and to collect them separately.
•    To design a shredder mechanism to shred plastic bottles into small pieces.
•    To design a system for allotment of reward to the depositors using a GSM based module.

Project Implementation Method

•    Conveyor belt will be used as the main platform on which containers inserted by the user will move toward the sorting section. The conveyor belt will halt for few seconds to distinguish between beverage containers based on material they are made up of and upon detection of material, it will resume its movement. Tin cans and glass bottles will be collected in separate containers while plastic bottles will continue to the end of the conveyor belt moving towards the cap cutting mechanism. Caps of the plastic bottles will be removed and will be collected in a different container. 

•    A Machine Learning model will be trained to distinguish between four categories of colored and transparent plastic bottles, tin cans and glass bottles. A camera will be installed above the conveyor belt which will send images to the main microcontroller when the conveyor belt halts.

•    Cap cutting mechanism consists of a Direct Current (DC) Motor and stepper motor that will be controlled using the TB 6600 motor driver module. The DC motor has a blade to separate the cap from the body of the bottle. To move the DC motor back and forth along with the connected blade, a stepper motor is used. Stepper motor is responsible for moving/ rotating the screw rod. The DC motor placed on a metal platform will move. After cap removal the remaining bottle will fall in the shredder. If the bottle is colored then it will be collected in a separate container, or it can also be shredded using a second shredder. 

•    A Shredder will be used to shred the bottles into small plastic flakes. Shredder consists of S-shaped iron blades placed alternatively on two threaded metal rods driven by 0.5 hp Single Phase AC Gear Motor.

•    A Web Application will be developed using the python language to create a system that involves the concerned authorities for the collection of plastic flakes when the respective containers are filled. The application will be developed in such a way that it will take the location of Reverse Vending Machine in the form of latitude and longitude and send it to the authorities. The Global Positioning System (GPS) module will be used to track the location of the machines.

•    Reward allotment will be done by using the GSM module. Users can collect their reward via receiving a message on their mobile phone or on a printed voucher generated by the machine according to the number of beverage containers deposited.

Benefits of the Project

Cost Effective
The benefits of the project include the cost-effective machine that can recycle the beverages using the modern and inexpensive technologies such as Deep Learning and cheap electronics components that are easily available in markets. The commercially developed machines deploy expensive components and machinery that make the overall price of the product costly.

Plastic Waste Management 
We are developing a Reverse Vending Machine that can be easily installed in local markets, streets, and parks. It will accept the beverage containers and will specifically crush the plastic ones so that they may be reused and do not pollute the environment. To encourage the public to take part in this mechanism, a reward system will also be added. These machines can really play a vital role in drastically decreasing the pollution caused by beverage containers by installing them at crowded places where there is high usage of beverages

Use of Modern Technology
•    Deep learning to distinguish between PET bottles, Glass bottles and Tin cans instead of reading barcodes. 
•    IOT based communication between users and authorities.
•    Discount Vouchers would be received on mobile phones using GSM Technology.
Our project performs this whole recycling procedure in a machine and that is the biggest benefit that it has reduced the labor of collecting the plastic and taking it to the plants for recycling.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

•    Final product will be a fully equipped Reverse Vending Machine that will be accept the Beverage Containers.
•    Conveyor belt will be used for moving the beverage containers from the point of insertion towards the sorting section. 
•    Image processing will be used to distinguish between Plastic bottles, Glass bottles and Tin cans. Deep learning modules will be trained on a large data set to identify the materials.
•    Servo motors will be mounted on both sides of the conveyor belt to sort the beverage containers.
•    Cap Cutting mechanism will include a DC motor equipped with a circular saw blade to cut the caps.
•     A Stepper motor will be used to move the DC motor back and forth in order to successfully cut the caps.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

IT

Other Industries

Manufacturing , Health

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Robotics, Cloud Infrastructure, Clean Tech

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, Life Below Water, Life on Land

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com