Design and experimental evaluation of a sequential dual sensor architecture for household smart waste segregation

Improper waste segregation at the source level remains a critical challenge in modern waste management systems, leading to environmental pollution and inefficient recycling processes. Although governments promote waste segregation into biodegradable and non-biodegradable categories, a major challenge still exists at the household-level, where kitchen waste is often mixed with plastics, paper, and packaging materials due to inconvenience, lack of awareness, or reluctance to handle waste. This household-level negligence directly contributes to global environmental issues by contaminating the recyclables and increasing the volume of waste that cannot be processed effectively. To address this, the present work introduces a smart waste segregation system using Arduino Uno microcontroller, which is capable of segregating biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. The system uses a moisture sensor to identify the high-moisture waste, and an IR reflectance sensor to distinguish the low-reflective dry biodegradable from highly-reflective non-biodegradable waste, which are then thrown into the respective compartments with the help of a servo motor. Thus, by ensuring proper segregation at the source with an accuracy of 96.33%, the system supports recycling and prevents contamination of useful materials. Overall, the proposed system provides a simple, cost-effective, practical solution to both household-level waste and worldwide environmental challenges.