Making waste disposal more efficient can cut costs for cities while also keeping them cleaner overall. We built an Internet of Things application that makes it easy to monitor waste levels in trash bins. In this video, we show you how to build a smart trash app that monitors how full a trash can is and lets you know when it needs to be emptied.

We connected an IR distance sensor to a Samsung ARTIK 10, and attached the sensor to the lid of a trash can. Then, we programmed the ARTIK to send an alert to the sanitation department using Zendesk if the volume of trash in the can reaches a certain threshold. When the can is emptied, the ARTIK will also create an event in a Google Calendar to log the activity. Check out the instructions on our website to build a smart trash can application of your own!