Project L.O.W.K.E.Y. (Litter Obviation: Waste Keeper And Eco-Rewards Yielder)

Abstract

Solid waste management is still a problem in the Philippines in spite of the implementation of Republic Act 9003 or simply the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. One of the reasons is due to the attitude of the people including the local government units who refuse to segregate wastes properly. Project L.O.W.K.E.Y., a reverse vending machine, was constructed to segregate solid wastes, specifically bottles and cans, and encourage people to segregate such materials by giving rewards. The device was programmed using an Arduino software. With the use of various sensors and actuators controlled by Arduino Mega 2560 R3, the device was able to detect and segregate bottles and cans and was able to give reward to the user which could be either a phone charge or coin. A series of functionality tests were conducted using different parameters with thirty trials allotted for each parameter. The results of the tests were analyzed using percentage to determine the overall functionality. The device was able to detect and segregate bottles and cans with 97% accuracy. 7 alternative hypotheses were accepted while 1 was rejected. It was also found out that there was no significant difference between the satisfaction rate of the users in receiving coins or phone charge as merit as evidenced by the p-value of 0.12 with α= 0.05, which indicates that the users were satisfied in receiving any of the rewards. Project L.O.W.K.E.Y. is a device that paves a way for an innovative and modern way of segregating wastes, especially plastic bottles and cans. With the use of this device, it shows how crucial proper segregation of wastes is in the community. Since these mentioned wastes are some of the major reasons why most disasters turn out to be more terrible than it should be, it should serve as a signal that proper segregation of wastes should now be performed.