The Tech-Bin That Revolutionises Circular Waste Management

An intelligent solar-powered device that lights up our streets, educates residents about recycling and gives you free Wi-Fi? What sounds like a far-fetched dream is now a reality! Meet the T-Bin for circular waste management. By Founder Eddy Gitonga

In Kenya, solid waste management has had its own share of challenges, especially in urban communities where the population is rapidly increasing. Commercial waste in Kenya is typically collected by municipalities, whereas residential waste is collected by private companies. However, waste collection is not reliable as mountains of waste continue to grow everywhere over the years, exacerbating the effects of climate change. We, therefore, require urgent solutions and best practices for waste management.

Waste management is a challenge everywhere © Eddy Gitonga

Meet the T-Bin

A system that can manage segregated waste at the household level with an end-to-end complete closed loop by educating citizens on the best methods of waste management? Sounds like a far-fetched dream but is now a reality! Solar energy, artificial intelligence, internet of things, audiovisuals, CCTV, data analytics, automation, lighting, sensors and Wi-Fi are all combined in a segregated waste bin now known as the T-Bin.

The T-Bin © Eddy Gitonga

The T-Bin stands for “Tech Bin” which is a smart intelligent solar-powered segregated waste bin that is fitted with twin LCD screens, street lighting, proximity sensors, real-time monitoring, aroma diffusion as well as inbuilt free Wi-Fi. The T-Bin aims to improve our urban communities and make our cities cleaner, healthier, and more secure.

This includes the collection of segregated waste to transportation and eventually recycling, which creates a circular economy. This high-tech bin is mainly for use in urban public spaces, green spaces, schools, hospitals, government institutions, NGOs, Private Sector, bus and railway stations, restaurants, shopping malls, stadiums, and all outdoor business premises.

The T-Bin is not only revolutionary but also much-needed for achieving Vision 2030, for which we need all hands on deck.

Serving Our Urban Communities

The T-Bin has been showcasing since July 2021 at an urban public park just a 30-minutes-drive from the Capital City Nairobi. We have received an average of 300 persons every day interacting one-on-one with the T-Bin and more than 1000 people via online presence. The T-Bin focuses mainly on educating citizens on the urgency to separate waste from source and most importantly the different types of waste disposed of every day – and how to dispose of them responsibly.  Attractive technologies integrated into the T-Bin make it very easy to communicate this narrative to the user.

The smart device also provides free Wi-Fi to the public, which is very useful in this digital age, especially on the African continent where the internet is being used for new technologies that are emerging at lightning speed. In addition, the solar-powered T-Bin literally lights up urban communities, promoting a 24-hour business economy now that curfews due to the COVID-19 pandemic are over. The T-Bin’s audiovisual capability is an assertive assistive innovation for persons living with disability, as it communicates with the deaf on the mounted digital smart screens and with the blind on proximity sensors that prompts a voice directive for waste disposal. The waste collected is additionally transported separately for the recycling process.

Presenting the T-Bin © Eddy Gitonga

A Smart Device For a Brighter Future

With initiatives such as Waste Wise Cities, which is an innovative approach to managing urban waste, we can only hope that other partners and world governments will join hands to make our environment and ecosystems cleaner, greener, and more habitable.

For this year’s Urban October, the T-Bin intends to launch its very first international event in Nairobi on 30 October 2021 preceding the World Cities Day. It’s our hope to also showcase the T-Bin in the capital cities of the 193 Countries that are members of the United Nations in a bid to promote zero-waste circular cities.

With the T-Bin, we want to minimise more than 95 per cent of the urban waste that ends up in dumpsites, rivers and is finally washed up to our oceans. We shall not just have thriving circular cities but also improved health systems, better security structures and a brighter world full of opportunities.