Waste Whirl
Revolutionizing waste collection with smart bins, blockchain, and real-time notifications we make waste management seamless, sustainable, and automated.
Created on 11th April 2025
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Waste Whirl
Revolutionizing waste collection with smart bins, blockchain, and real-time notifications we make waste management seamless, sustainable, and automated.
The problem Waste Whirl solves
Waste Whirl addresses the inefficiencies and inconsistencies in urban waste management through automation and smart technology. Here's how it helps:
For Corporates & Gated Communities:
Waste Whirl's smart bin automates waste classification and collection. When full, it notifies rack pickers and triggers payment via smart contracts, reducing the need for manual monitoring and improving hygiene and operational efficiency.
For Individual Citizens:
Users without smart bins can schedule waste pickups via a web dashboard. The system ensures transparency by using blockchain smart contracts to automate payments only after task completion, verified by the user.
For Waste Pickers:
A secure onboarding system with admin approval and RFID verification ensures only legitimate rack pickers operate. They receive real-time notifications about pickup requests and automated payments, making their job easier and more efficient.
By integrating IoT, ML, blockchain, and real-time notifications, Waste Whirl simplifies waste management, ensures accountability, and promotes sustainable practices at scale
Challenges we ran into
Hardware Side:
Building a working smart bin MVP in under 24 hours was tough. We faced communication errors between the microcontroller and Raspberry Pi, which delayed hardware-software integration. Running everything in a single script proved unreliable, so we split the code into two coordinated parts—one for GPIO control and another for image classification and API interaction.
Software Side:
Our authentication system unexpectedly broke down during development. While we couldn’t fix it in time for the demo, we ensured the rest of the flow—pickup requests, smart contract handling, and notifications—worked flawlessly without it.
AWS S3 (Silly Errors):
We also hit unexpected issues with AWS S3, despite having used it multiple times before. It threw errors during file uploads due to small configuration oversights. Thankfully, after some debugging, we got it working just in time.
Tracks Applied (1)
Main Track
Technologies used