Ultrasonic sensors measuring the garbage level
inside the container allow the local utility to plan the
collecting routes accordingly, and in some cases
inform the users about the fullness of the bin without
the need for opening it (Mustafa & Ku Azir, 2017).
In 2014, Lazaro and Rubio worked on solar
powered electronic trash can with a sensor able to scan
the waste, open a particular lid depending on the type
of waste and close it automatically after 10 seconds.
However, the limitations in this prototype lay in its
costs and in the automatic procedure, unable to record
if a passing material is not intended as waste.
The US-based company EvoEco has developed
EvoBin, a freestanding, modular, steel construction
equipped with a video displaying items that are typical-
ly recycled, composted or landfilled, then showing
feedback message depending on the types of thrown
waste. Apart from the effective engagement of users,
the small capacity (about 87 litres) compared to the
overall height (170 cm), the absence of a profiling
system and the uncovered lid make EvoBin more suit-
able as indoor solution rather than urban waste facility.
Not always technology advancements related to
smart bin directly improve household every-day
actions, and waste bins design is often the by-product
of complex waste sorting regulations (OECD, 2017).
Therefore, this prototype research takes into
account not only the former request of the local utility
to improve municipal management system of separate
waste collection, but also the pressing need to better
the user experience at different levels.
This research has been carried out since 2016 by
CFR Consorzio Futuro in Ricerca, specifically by
Next City Lab, an interdisciplinary research group at
Architecture Department University of Ferrara,
headed by professor Gabriele Lelli, commissioned by
the central innovation director of Hera Group,
Salvatore Molé. The main authors are, from industry
side, Eng. Enrico Piraccini, head of development &
innovation of Hera Group and Eng. Simone Allegra,
innovation central direction of Hera Group, and from
University side MSc associate prof. Gabriele Lelli,
MSc Walter Nicolino and MSc PhD Candidate Ilaria
Fabbri.
2 CURRENT SITUATION IN
ITALY
Waste is currently a central issue in the agendas of
local and national governments.
The rapid growth of the population and the
considerable changes in people lifestyle are outpacing
the need of valuable solutions to improve the
efficiency and the effectiveness of waste collection,
urban disposals and recycling scores by taking into
account the standard of health and environmental
friendliness. In European countries, total and per
capita waste production has been decreasing thanks to
specific community policies which have been in place
since the 1990s.
A briefing published on November 2018 by the
European Environment Agency (EEA) highlighted
that “pay-as-you-throw” (PAYT) schemes are
effective instruments that drive recycling up. In
PAYT programs waste management service is
charged by unit or consumption, likewise other urban
utilities such as electricity or water; specifically, the
fees are based on the weight or volume of the
generated waste. Besides, differentiated tariffs make
residual waste more expensive than selectively
collected waste streams, as an economic incentive for
households to recycle their waste.
In line with the findings of EEA briefing, and with
several lines of evidence supporting PAYT systems,
many countries in Europe are adopting a waste rate
proportional to the weight and/or the volume of the
delivered garbage.
Italy abolished the flat-rate tax (TARSU) and it is
gradually setting a target to complete the shift from
tax to a user-specific rate.
Through its own plants and services, the Hera
Group is Italy’s first environmental operator which
directly manages the entire integrated waste cycle in
its own area, which consisted of 187 municipalities in
2017 with about 3.3 million inhabitants in total.
In 2015, before the research here presented
started, Hera Group was testing urban waste
containers with preliminary expedients measuring
garbage volumes and recognizing users’ identity. The
most common model of urban garbage bin enabling
users’ profiling and waste measuring consists of a
traditional 3200-liter container with a recycling cap
on the top, with a capacity of 15 litres. In order to
throw garbage bag, the user has to wake up the system
pushing a button, log in with the personal RFID card
on the sensor, pull the lever handle, fill the cap with
garbage bag and close it up.
With such measuring caps, waste delivery is a
complex and time-consuming process, rather than an
automatic, effortless act. Moreover, the height of the
cap penalizes the system in terms of accessibility to
protected class of users.
The experimentation conducted by Hera Group in
different area of Emilia Romagna Region also
highlights that this model of dustbin badly affects
user behaviour, with increased littering next to waste