Waste Management System: Malaysian Model

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Waste collection utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) with the technology of smart wireless sensors will enable to gather fill-level data from waste containers, hence providing a waste monitoring solution that brings up savings in waste collection costs. One of the challenges to the local authority is how to monitor the works of contractors effectively and efficiently in waste management. This paper is a proposal to the local authorities for the implementation of smart waste management in Malaysia to improve the city management and to provide better services to the public.

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Smart Waste Management System (SWMS) is one of the modules developed in Spatial Smart City Service Delivery Engine (SSCSDE) Project funded by Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation Malaysia (Mosti) under Techno fund grant in Malaysia. The objective of the project was to develop a spatial service delivery engine that is capable of exploiting the smart (geospatial) technologies to support city operations which includes managing, using, and exploring spatial data with scientific analysis in all possible phases of the decision-making process in the organization.

Local authorities always face difficulty to monitor work done by waste collection services providers. SWMS acts as automatic enforcement system to penalize the contractor who breaks the contract. This solution helps monitor the contractor and brings information of garbage container status and reports automatically when it is full. This valuable information can be used by local authority for monitoring purposes and enforcement; by waste collection contractor to get alerts on the status of containers in terms of fill levels in order to optimize collection routes based on historical and real-time information and hence save operation cost; by the joint management body in charge of the waste chamber in residential areas to know the status of waste of each chamber and keep it clean

Case Study for SWMS

Enevo is a comprehensive logistics solution that saves time, money and the environment. It uses wireless sensors to measure and forecast the fill-level of waste containers and generates smart collection plans using the most efficient schedules and routes which take into account an extensive set of parameters future fill level projections, truck availability, traffic information, road restrictions, container and content types the vehicle can collect, etc. The solution provides up to 50% in direct cost savings. Enevo uses WSN and Ultrasound sensor for measuring the fill level of waste container.

SENSdumpster filling level monitoring is an innovative device that monitors the filling level of a dumpster. It works with any kind of waste and fits to any type of dumpster. It makes use of a volumetric sensor that provides information of the level of filing of a dumpsters. A temperature sensor is able to detect significant temperature increases that may result in fire. SENSdumpster is a fully ZigBee wireless device that can be integrated to any ZigBee network deployment within the smart-city.

SWM System Architecture

SWMS can help local authorities in decision making for future waste collection schedule. The waste collection regularity can be monitored, analysed, and rescheduled based on the waste level in garbage containers. Using sensor technology can help reduce the operation time for waste collection process. This sensor can detect the level of garbage in the bin.

Conceptual system design

GSM modules are used for communication for SWMS to transmit data from the sensor to the local server. The sensors need to be equipped with the GSM module including the SIM card and need to subscribe mobile data packets.

SWMS concept by GSM communication

Conceptual workflow

There are three main players in the work flow of SWMS — local authority, waste collection contractor and citizen. The local authority is responsible to add, register and view data sensor and also update and view contractor, view and update waste schedule plus and respond to complaints. The waste collection contractor is responsible to pick up waste based on the indicator appearing on the map and respond to the status of each bin in their job scope. The citizen will give the feedback by filling in the complaint form online.

Web Application

Work flow diagram of SWMS

SWMS consists of web browser, mobile browser and mobile apps as shown in the Figure. The method used to design and develop Core Smart City application is called Device Agnostic Solution. This is to address the increasing number of people browsing information over the web with
difference devices, viewer resolutions and browsers. Device Agnostic Solution is suitable for most devices (ideally all devices) and be responsive nevertheless. These responsive designs which strictly obey the device-agnostic approach, without any doubt, present the content in the best possible manner that is appropriate for the device on the screen.

Hardware

Web application for SWMS

The hardware involves three type of platform which are being used – waspmote, myrio and arduino. The platform is powered by solar panel.

SWMS Spatial Elements

The scope of work for proposed SWMS GIS spatial data is to provide geo-location of authority boundary area, contractor maintenance and waste bin location.

i. Collect the Spatial Data: The data will be gather by meeting with related authorities for each selected area according to the Smart City GIS System proposed category.

ii. Analysing the Spatial Data: Once the spatial data is received, the data will be analysed using certain GIS softwares to make sure all data is in good condition and search for any issues related to the data.

iii. Solve the Issues Occurred: After finishing analysing and acquiring the outcome results, some recommendations and solutions can be suggested to overcome the issues.

iv. Prepare the Data within the Scope Needed: After the data is corrected, the spatial data will be prepared according to each category of Smart City GIS System for each selected authority.

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The objective of SWMS is to provide value-addition to the existing SWM process for waste management under local authorities, to help in decision making for waste management processes, to ensure the contractors follow the work procedure, and to improve waste collection services delivery which comes under the responsibility of local authority.

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System Implementation

Ultrasonic wireless sensor

Ultrasonic sensor measures the distance between the sensor and the waste inside the container and sends its information through the cellular network directly to the server. In the server, the data is processed and transformed into useful information. The filling percentage of the container is estimated based on the latest measurements produced by the sensor. The information is processed and the result appears on the web application. The sensor can continuously measure the fill level, and work with any type of bin materials and measure without physical contact with materials.

There are four level indicators for waste bin level:

1. Green: less than 50%

2. Yellow: less than 100% and more than 50%

3. Red: more than 100%

A typical concept for Smart Waste Management has concluded that the system will use ultrasound sensor and GSM network as tools to measure and transmit sensor data to the server. It requires a powerful, modular, easy to program open source sensor platform for the Internet of Things enabling system integrators to implement reliable Smart Cities and M2M solutions with minimum time to market.

The proposed SWMS requires more maintenance cost than the existing system. The most important issue is how to deliver to local authority with competitive price and less maintenance cost. With the current system, the implementation is only limited for apartment and condominium where the sensor device is put on top of the big garbage bin inside the apartment waste chamber. In the future, small IoT gadget for waste monitoring can be developed to put inside the waste chamber in front of each terrace house and bungalow to widen the implementation to the citizen.

M F Omar, A A A Termizi, D Zainal,
N A Wahap, N Ahmad
Agensi Angkasa Negara (ANGKASA), Malaysia

N M Ismail, Geoinfo Services Sdn, Malaysia

Source: IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental
Science, Volume 37, conference 1

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