RADAMA: Design of an Intelligent Waste Separator with the Combination of Different Sensors

Nowadays, trash generation is a real problem. It is expected that high-income countries will experience waste generation growth in the future. A forecast shows that by 2050 there will be an exponential increase of close to 3.4 billion tonnes per year. Therefore, it is urgent to reduce the levels of garbage that are produced in the world. A possible solution is to develop recycling systems in all the big cities. In this regard, we propose a mechatronic system to separate solid wastes into four categories. To determine the category to which the inorganic waste belongs, we used a combination of four different sensors: inductive, capacitive, infrared, and ultrasonic sensors. To evaluate the efficiency of this proposal, we carried out tests that showed the individual conduct of every component and the total efficiency of the device, obtaining at least 75 percent in overall efficiency. © 2021 IEEE.