‘Smart Trash’ Concept Advances Recycling

Georgia Institute of Technology professor Valerie Thomas and her “Smart Trash” concept may just be the key to increased consumer recycling participation.

Thomas, a professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, designed a system to provide sustainable and productive ways for discarding household waste, while also redefining the relationship individuals have with their garbage.

The Smart Trash system would inventory waste and track the financial rewards associated with household recyclables. Photo: Gatech.edu

‘Smart Trash’ functions using two key elements: a Universal Product Code (UPC) or radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to identify specific merchandise and a retrofitted recycling center where valuable items can be processed and proceeds sent directly back to consumers. A Wi-Fi connection provides the bridge between the trashcan and the recycling service.

The Smart Trash concept goes beyond the common recycled items like plastic bottles, aluminum cans and paper. From items of significant value, such as consumer electronics, to items of lower value, like a shampoo bottle or frozen pizza box, the Smart Trash technology would record the items and help to generate financial rewards.

Smart Trash technology could also provide benefits that reach beyond the garbage can. With the ability to scan and determine the value of just about any household item, the system could potentially be used for inventory purposes or to pinpoint products that have been recalled. Think of it as a way of cataloging what comes in your home as well as what leaves it.

In a news release issued by Georgia Tech, Thomas states, “Recycling and consumer waste are still managed with 1950s technology. Of course it can’t keep up. The flow of products out of the household needs to be managed with at least as much intelligence as the flow of products into the household.”

The approach to recycling has caught the attention of the EPA. Angie Leith, senior policy analyst for the EPA Office of Solid Waste, recruited Thomas to take part in Project PURE, an EPA-funded program which seeks to develop an innovative way to encourage a cradle-to-cradle approach to andling electronic products in the U.S. Specifically, the project seeks to use RFID tags with electronics to reduce their overall environmental footprint.