Purpose

Design and integration of an appropriate waste volume reduction system within the iBin. The waste collection companies contacted so far are unable to handle shredded waste but only crushed waste.

Safety of the iBin. It is an item that will have to be installed within the home environment therefore it will be necessary to ensure its easy and safe use.

Reliable tracking functions for both household deliveries and waste management company collections.

Route optimization algorithms for waste collection and transportation, based on bin fill levels and no longer on minor route or household behavior profile, developed in the early 1900s.

Reward policy. The advent of RVMs has demonstrated the interest of households in receiving incentives for their waste, although then the need to receive a more convenient service (avoid taking one’s waste to the mall) causes this interest to wane within 6 months. MrBin brings RVM inside household kitchens by also implementing a different reward service than pre-existing ones. A feasibility study conducted by aTon showed how households are not interested in the small bonuses issued by today’s RVMs, but that in their desire to receive an incentive these want something more even if they are not sure they will receive it. Based on this study, MrBin will implement a mechanism based on the principle of a lottery, in which only those households that reach certain quotas of quantity and quality of rejection will be able to participate. Among all these households, only a few will receive the prize, which could be: free waste fee for the following year; or 2 tickets to the soccer game of the favorite team; or a year of paid school books; or a year of free public transportation. By increasing the importance of the prize, but reducing the number of people who will have access to it, it will stimulate the nature of the gambler present in all people that still fuels the market for many prize games, scratch cards in the first place, but also point cards at the supermarket, etc.

Results

To achieve the project goals, the work was divided into the following working groups:

WP1 – Coordination

The objective of this WP is to ensure adherence to the project timeline, ensure the quality of project deliverables and related documentation. Within this WP the partners will work to ensure the achievement of the final and intermediate project goals, as well as the release of individual deliverables, whether they are documentary and/or prototypical. At the same time it will be within this WP that all economic and technical issues inherent in variations and/or critical issues that may arise during the normal course of the project will be handled

Deliverable: A single iterative report will be produced; the first to M6 inherent in the project progress and the second to M18 for project completion.

WP2 – Context Analysis

This WP, characterized by research activities, will initiate each iteration within MrBin by setting up focus groups, with the families chosen for the Pilot, and roundtable discussions with the GEA. These meetings will focus on identifying the requirements of both actors. The final outcome of this WP will be a document reporting the identified requirements, their implementation in the different implementations, and finally the observations of both actors on how they were implemented.

Deliverable: An iterative report will be produced, biannually (one at M6, the other at month 12), containing the questions and topics from the focus groups and roundtables with observations and comments from stakeholder feedback following the two iterations.

WP3 – Design and development of the MrBin Platform.

This WP is characterized by both research and development activities. Specifically within this WP, partners will address the:
Design and optimization of electronic and mechanical components within iBins (5 units)
Optimization and design of oBins (1 unit)
Design and implementation of C2R so that it can publish all the information needed by the waste collection company, to optimize costs, and by citizens, to manage their waste collection
App customization (iOs and ANDROID) for households and waste collection company operators
Deliverable: In accordance with the iterative approach the outputs of this WP will be the prototypes of the iBin, oBin and C2R, produced as a result of the two iterations

WP4 – Integration, Pilot deployment, Testing and Validation of results.

The goal of this WP, characterized by research and development activities, is to close the open loop at the beginning of each iteration with WP2. Specifically, during this WP the partners involved will install the iBins within the identified households and the oBin within their neighborhood. From the first installation all data will be collected within the C2R and compared with the history available to the waste collection company and the Municipality of Nepi (location where the Pilot will be installed). After 2 months after the installation, focus groups and round tables will be organized with the stakeholders in order to collect comments, suggestions, critical issues about the deployed infrastructure.

Deliverable: A report will be produced and updated following the conclusion of the validation phase of each iteration. Within this report will be indicated the configuration of the deployed MrBin platform, collection and transport rates as well as comments/suggestions from the actors involved in the Pilot.

WP5 – Commercialization, exploitation of results and future lines of development

The objective of this WP, characterized by research and development activities, is the realization of a commercialization plan in Italy but also and especially abroad. Within the commercialization plan will be declined not only the functionalities of MrBin as a system to optimize waste collection at households but also and especially the industrial economic benefits to waste collection companies. In addition, the modularity of the system and the ability to scale it to different scenarios, applications, and contexts will be highlighted. Finally, concluding the activities of this WP will be the creation of a business model that, based on the effort put into the project and the intellectual property of the individual partners, will define the ownership percentages of the MrBin solution and regulate its future sales.

Deliverable: This WP will produce a single report that will be released at the end of the project. Part of this report will be the commercialization plan, activities to promote the solution, and definition of the business model with ownership percentages for each partner.

Financial Support Received

The MrBin project proposal was submitted on 02/13/2017 under protocol number A0114-2017-14764 on the Public Notice “KETS enabling technologies” referred to in Det. n. G13675 of 21/11/2016 – POR FESR LAZIO 2014 – 2020 – Integrated Projects.

By Determination no. G07802 of 19/06/2018 published in BURL no. 52 supplement 2 of 06/26/2018, the Director of the Regional Directorate for Economic Development and Productive Activities, noted the results of the evaluation carried out by the Evaluation Commission, which at its meeting of 03/15/2018 approved the MrBin project and the related grant, assigning it CUP F81B18000380007.