Mechatronics 2016 Team B

Problem Description

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, trash is continually being generated. More recently, more sustainable efforts have occurred to recycle some of the trash being produced. In 2013, Americans generated over 250 million tons of trash, 34.3 percent of which is recycled. However, according to the EPA about 75 percent of the waste is actually recyclable.

Our project aims to increase the amount of waste being recycled by taking the work out of sorting the trash. Studies have show that recycling rates increased when a county in Florida implemented single-stream recycling, another automated recycling method. Trash Bot will autonomously sort the trash provided into two separate bins: recyclables and non-recyclables. Compared to other trash sorting machines currently out in the market, ours will be a point of collection device instead of a sorting device used in a single stream sorting.