Smart Waste Segregation Dustbin Using Arduino

Abstract

Rapid growth in population and urbanization has resulted in a substantial increase in municipal solid waste, creating serious challenges in waste management and recycling processes. One of the major problems in existing waste management systems is the lack of segregation at the source, which leads to increased landfill usage, environmental pollution, and health hazards. Manual segregation is time-consuming, unhygienic, and inefficient. To address these issues, this project presents the design and development of a Smart Waste Segregation Dustbin using Arduino that automatically classifies waste into metal, wet, and dry categories..

Introduction

Rapid population growth, urbanization, and industrialization have significantly increased solid waste generation, creating serious environmental and health problems. A major limitation of conventional waste management systems is the lack of segregation at the source, as wet, dry, and metal wastes are often mixed together. Manual segregation is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and unsafe for workers. To address these issues, an automated smart waste segregation system is required to reduce human involvement and improve recycling efficiency.

The literature survey shows that several sensor-based and IoT-enabled waste segregation systems have been proposed using microcontrollers. While earlier systems improved segregation and monitoring, many suffered from limitations such as poor mechanical precision, lack of accurate motor control, high system cost, or incomplete waste classification. Stepper-motor-based systems offered better positional accuracy, but some lacked moisture-based segregation.

The proposed system uses an Arduino UNO, IR sensor, metal sensor, moisture sensor, ULN2003 driver, and a stepper motor to automatically classify waste into metal, wet, and dry categories. The process begins when the IR sensor detects waste. The metal sensor first identifies metallic waste; if none is found, the moisture sensor determines whether the waste is wet or dry based on a threshold value. The stepper motor then precisely rotates the mechanism to deposit waste into the appropriate compartment before returning to its home position.

The system operates using Embedded C programmed in the Arduino IDE, following a modular, event-driven approach for real-time operation. Precise stepper motor control ensures accurate bin alignment, while sensor calibration improves reliability. Overall, the smart waste segregation system provides an efficient, low-cost, safe, and automated solution for source-level waste management and recycling.

Conclusion

The Smart Waste Segregation Dustbin using Arduino proves to be an effective solution for automatic waste classification. The integration of sensors with a microcontroller and stepper motor enables precise, reliable, and hygienic waste segregation. The system is cost-effective, easy to implement, and suitable for small-scale applications such as homes, colleges, offices, and public places. This project demonstrates how embedded systems can contribute to sustainable and intelligent waste management solutions.

References

[1] S. Navghane, M. S. Killedar, and V. M. Rohokale, “Automatic Waste Segregation System Using Arduino,” International Journal of Innovative Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering (IJIREEICE), vol. 4, no. 4, 2016. [2] K. N. Kumbhar, S. S. Patil, and R. R. Patil, “Smart Dustbin Using Arduino,” International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering, vol. 7, no. 5, 2017. [3] M. S. Patil and R. H. Goudar, “IoT-Based Smart Waste Management System,” International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), vol. 7, no. 6, 2018. [4] A. K. Shukla, P. Singh, and R. Verma, “Waste Segregation System Using Moisture and Metal Sensors,” International Journal of Scientific Research in Engineering and Technology (IJSRET), vol. 8, no. 2, 2019. [5] P. B. Mane, S. R. Jadhav, and V. S. Patil, “Smart Garbage Segregation System Using Embedded Systems,” International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR), vol. 7, no. 3, 2020. [6] R. S. Kumar and S. Rajesh, “Automated Waste Sorting System Using Stepper Motor,” International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, vol. 10, no. 1, 2021. [7] Arduino, “Arduino UNO Board Description and Programming Guide.” [Online]. Available: Arduino.cc [8] Texas Instruments, “ULN2003 Darlington Transistor Array Datasheet,” Texas Instruments, 2020. [9] Government of India, “Solid Waste Management Rules,” Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, 2016. [10] Skynet Robotics, “Wet Dry Metal Waste Segregation Project Using Arduino,” YouTube Technical Tutorial.

Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Prof. S. V. Bhonde, Suraj Harsule, Rushikesh Gavner, Mihir Chidle, Chetan Amzare, Sumedh Pakhale, Owaiz Khan. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.