Nust student invents smart bin

SITHOKOZILE Ndlovu, a final-year computer science student at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has invented a Smart Bin to help fight littering and the emergence of illegal dumpsites which have become a common feature at most urban centres.

Ndlovu exhibited the Smart Bin at the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.

"It is disposer aware, meaning that it discerns the presence of a disposer and it's internet aware, as it communicates its waste levels to waste management systems,"she said.

Ndlovu said by using a Smart Bin the results are "accumulation of empirical data on waste and the city council will have real time data on which bins are full and informed decisions on how to collect waste and when".

Nust spokesperson Felix Moyo said: "A big project like this is going to be an answer to the improvement of waste management. The waste management will have empirical data and when to collect the waste. This bin has a sensor and it detects its capacity when it's full, it can't open. We are looking for investors before the outsiders snatch this project."