A BIN SO SMART IT CAN SEGREGATE ITS OWN WASTE

Guest post by Jakub Lubonski on October 13, 2016

I'm the CEO of a Polish technology company that has been intensively working for more than a year on creating the perfect bin, which can recognise, categorise, and sort trash as it is placed into it. The Bin-e is a response to the growing problem of segregation of garbage in places where waste is produced the most. According to recent statistics, every year Europeans produce over 213 million tons of garbage, of which only 30% is recycled! 

This is definitely not enough, and it is very doubtful that we shall meet the current EU environmental targets set by the European Commission, therefore, more needs to be done to reduce waste, and increase recycling rates. This problem is particularly apparent in our workplaces, where it's really difficult to control the disposal process. People often unintentionally dispose of items in the wrong way. In most cases this not down to laziness or carelessness, but confusion because it can be difficult to know what the things we dispose of are actually made of. This means objects and packaging is repeatedly placed into the wrong types of bin. This can result in contamination, and lead to the entire contents of the recycle waste bin ending up in landfill. The solution proposed by myself and my CTO Marcin Łotysz, is a smart trash bin that can make the entire disposal process easier, and more efficient. 

Bin-e's ability to automatically segregate waste is down to several mechanical and electronic components, but it's the device's software, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), that makes it so smart. From the user's perspective, they can go back to not having to worry about separating the stuff they wish to dispose of as the bin's AI does it for them!

Another huge benefit offered by Bin-e is that it can integrate with the standard logistic solutions used by many companies when it comes to waste management, and disposal. This can lead to huge operational saving, so there is a very compelling business case, which has been validated by speaking to potential customers in Poland as well as Germany and the UK. 

Bin-e is currently only at prototype stage, but we are working with future customers to overcome all kinds of challenges in order to ensure our vision becomes a reality. We are convinced that our smart bins will eventually appear in homes, workplaces and cities throughout the world.

BIN-e has received a great deal of attention, and the team have even received several accolades having taken part in several prestigious international competitions that have sort to find and reward innovators of environmentally friendly technological solutions. Examples include Kick InoEnergy, Hardware.co Accelerator, and ACE Creative.

Of course the next major challenge will be to take Bin-e from prototype to production stage, which is expected to happen next year.

We are seeking strategic investment, and industry collaborators so please get in touch with me if you would like to help us get Bin-e to market. You can also view further details about Bin-e on our website, and follow our progress via social media (Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin). 
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Jakub Lubonski is the CEO, and founder of Bin-e. He focuses on business development, and organisational management focusing on the company's goals and people. He's an IoT enthusiast and is passionate about ecology.