Mysuru may soon have ‘smart bins’ in public places

MNC keen on installing 15 of them in the city for free

Roadside waste collection is set to go smart in Mysuru, which prides in its status as one of India’s cleanest cities and is striving for top honours in the cleanliness index by adopting emerging technologies.

The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is toying with the idea of installing ‘smart bins’ for street-side garbage collection. A multinational company has evinced interest in the installation of 15 hi-tech sensor-based garbage bins across the city for free.

A key feature of these bins is the in-built technology to compress or compact the trash dumped in them. Each bin can hold up to 3 to 5 tonnes after compaction.

Installation of 15 such bins will ensure that at least 45 tonnes of garbage generated in the city goes to recycling plants

as compressed trash and makes it easy to dispose them of.

How it works

The bin automatically senses if somebody is approaching it and opens the lid. The garbage dumped inside will get compacted. Another set of sensors will alert corporation authorities if the bins are filled, following which arrangements can be made to transport the waste to recycling plants.

Such a mechanism also has the potential to reduce the cost of transportation as only such bins that are full need to be attended. This also has the potential to address the garbage overflow issue that is widely prevalent in the city.

Pending approval

MCC Health Officer D.G. Nagaraju told The Hindu that the proposal has been cleared by the Health Committee and it will be put before the MCC council for approval. “To start with, the company is keen on installation of 15 bins, but we want to take it up on a pilot basis by getting them installed at five or six places, including places of tourism interest so as to keep the surroundings clean and tidy,” he said.

The company had screened a video of the bin’s functioning to MCC officials and it appeared fine under con trolled conditions. “However, its efficacy needs to be tested on the ground and in local conditions,” said the officer.

For the MCC, it is reckoned to be a win-win situation as it is not going to spend anything out of its coffers. All that it needs to provide is vacant place of 5 ft by 5 ft dimension for installing the bins in public places.

Mysuru, with a population of more than a million, generates nearly 405 to 450 tonnes of garbage every day and the bulk of it is handled at the sewage plant in Vidyaranyapuram. But of late, the stress is on decentralisation of garbage collection and zero-waste management. Smart bins could supplement such efforts.