An IoT-powered smart waste management system: case study Mukono Municipality
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Date
2026-05-28
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Publisher
Uganda Christain University
Abstract
Solid waste management in Uganda’s growing urban centres faces a fundamental information problem: collection crews operate on fixed schedules with no knowledge of which bins actually need servicing. The result is a predictable cycle of overflow at hightraffic locations, wasted fuel on unnecessary trips to partially filled containers, and a near-total absence of the data that would allow municipal planners to do better. This project presents the SmartBin System, an Internet of Things (IoT) prototype designed to bring real-time visibility to waste management operations in Mukono Municipality. The system embeds an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor and a load cell into a modified public waste bin, processes sensor readings through an ESP32 microcontroller, and transmits structured data to a cloud database via Wi-Fi. A Node.js backend serves a web-based monitoring dashboard that displays live fill-level percentages, weight readings, alert notifications, and historical trend charts for every registered bin unit. Development followed a mixed-methods approach: qualitative interviews with municipal officers, private collectors, and recyclers grounded the design in operational reality, while structured questionnaires and waste composition surveys provided the quantitative baseline against which system performance is measured. The Agile SDLC model guided the iterative phases of requirements analysis, system design, implementation, and testing. Bench testing returned fill-level accuracy above 90%, data transmission success of 96%, and
an average sensor-to-dashboard latency of 9 seconds. A Flutter-based mobile application providing map-based bin status for field collectors is currently in development as a companion tool. The system is designed for replication: all hardware components are available in Ugandan electronics markets, and the full source code is documented for public release. With further development and municipal partnership, the SmartBin System offers a practical, evidence-based pathway from reactive to data-driven waste collection in secondary Ugandan town.
Description
Undergraduate