Zero Waste Waste Management Project

Abstract

This project is a system that will give chance to the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) community to deal with the waste management easily. Improper management of waste will cause a hazardous effect on the environment and human health. A proper waste management comes from a human behaviour. This waste management will succeed with a high participation from the USM community. The motivation for this project is to implement a good Android-based application system. In order for the system to work efficiently, there are many new things to learn to make the system work efficiently. The future of good environment that lead to a healthy lifestyle and environment also motivates me to implement the system.

The objective of this system is for USM community to easily involves themselves in the waste management. Moreover, this system also intend to increase the pro-environmental behaviour in the USM community. The techniques that will be employed for this system are the Location Based System, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. The expected results of this system is to enhance pro-environmental behaviour among USM community towards reducing solid waste in campus. It also will increase the awareness towards the USM community is recycling and separation of the waste. Thus, USM community will have a better environment and learn a proper way of waste management.

Project Background

Waste management is the precise name for the collection, transportation, regulation, disposal or recycling and monitoring the waste. Waste can take any form. There are many types of waste that need to be managed such as liquid waste, solid rubbish, organic waste, recyclable waste, and hazardous waste. There are also many methods of waste management such as landfill, incineration, waste to energy, plasma gasification, waste minimization, recovery or recycling and composting. Waste can pose a threat to human health if it did not manage correctly. Waste management is important to both the natural environment and humans. USM has done many campaign and policies to lead to a sustainable life for the future. “The White Coffin” and Tobacco-Free has been implemented in the USM to make sure the USM community to have a healthy life.

Most of the USM community did not take part actively in the waste management because they do not know exactly on what type of waste can be recyclable, where the waste can be recycled and who to contact for the other type of waste. USM community mostly thrown all of the rubbish in the bin without considering which items can be recycle or not. All of this will end up in the landfill and it is bad for the environment. Thus, this is not a good way to handle the waste. In the USM, the Majlis Penghuni Desasiswa (MPD) try to handle the waste by recycling. But, the participation for the recycling programs has not been received well. Zero Waste - Waste Management is an Android-based application and act as a platform for the USM community to involve themselves in waste management.

Problem Statements

Waste management is an area that needs education and awareness for global prevention. Improper way of waste management can be hazardous to individual health and the environment. With the increasing of USM community, the number of waste also increasing rapidly day by day. Although USM has encouraged the community to recycle, many individuals in the campus including students, staffs, and visitors fail to handle the waste properly by throwing all the rubbish in the bin without separate the waste that can be recycled. Moreover, the knowledge towards waste reduction, separation and recycling are low among the USM community. Furthermore, the participation of the USM community in the recycling activities in developing countries remains poor.

Motivation

The motivation of this project is to design and implement a good Android based application. Besides, doing this project is a golden opportunity for me to deal with Location Based System (LBS). In addition, one of the motivation to deal with the project is to learn on how to do the Augmented Reality (AR) and the Virtual Reality (VR). Lastly, the fifth motivation is to learn how to cooperate and communicate with others to produce a complete task. Cooperation, ready to learn and communication skills play a very important task in our life.

Proposed Solutions

In order to solve the problems mentioned above, we proposed a Zero Waste - Waste Management system to be developed. The main focus on this system is to make sure the USM community to have an easy access for a proper waste management. These system intend to increase the pro-environmental behaviour in the USM community by providing a platform for the USM community to easily participate in the recycling. Besides, USM community can know the whereabouts of the recycle bin or who to contact for other types of waste disposal. Moreover, the system also allow the user to make a report regarding illegal dumping of waste. In another word, USM community can show their support in recycling by using this system. The proposed solution is a novelty.

Significance of Project

The system will give benefits to the USM community to easily involves themselves in the waste management. In addition, USM community can easily obtain the list and details of the waste management services based on the different types of waste. This system will give a lot of convenience to those who want to file a report on the illegal dumping of waste. Hence, the authority of the campus can know the illegal activities of waste dumping around the campus without difficulty. Moreover, USM community can easily know the whereabouts of the recycling bin. Thus, it will shape the behavior of the USM community to be more pro-environmental and change the negative behaviour and reduce the environmental impact. This can improve the efficiency of the USM community in handling waste management.

Uniqueness of Proposed Solutions

One of the uniqueness of the proposed solution for this project is to track the complainant’s location so that the admin can know the place precisely. Furthermore, this system will implement the notification for the recycling schedule as a reminder for the USM community. Besides, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality is implemented in order to make recycling is easier and convenient for the USM community.

Expected Outcomes

Zero Waste - Waste Management system will aid USM in achieving toward reducing the solid waste in the campus. Moreover, this system aims to increases the number of pro-environmental behaviour in the USM community. Besides, it will increase the shaping of USM community participation in waste separation and recycle. Furthermore, this system hopes that it can change the negative behaviour or habits of the USM community that thrown all the rubbish without separation. Lastly, it can reduce the environmental impact.

References:

1. Waste Management Resources. (2009). [online]. Available at : http://www.wrfound.org.uk/ [Accessed 29 Sept 2018].
2. United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2018). Recycling Basics. [online]. Available at : https://www.epa.gov/recycle/recycling-basics [Accessed 29 Sept 2018].