Most offices have several recycling bins for materials such as cans, glass and paper. A new invention, however, aims to cut down the time needed to sort items by replacing office recycle bins with just one container.
The Bin.E smart bin has a series of sensors and cameras that recognise distinct types of rubbish. The rectangular bin has one opening where the rubbish goes. As it falls through the top of the bin, rubbish is automatically sorted and sent to one of four smaller recycling bins placed at the bottom of the bin. When the bin is full, the small bins (with their sorted items ready for recycling) are picked up by a collection service.
Bin.E is a Polish firm that has made a prototype smart bin, but it is not expected to be sold in the UK until 2018. It should cost around £430, plus about £100 for a subscription to a phone app that communicates with a collection service. Perhaps its biggest challenge will be persuading businesses that the time saved in rubbish sorting is enough to justify the extra cost of purchasing the technology.
The Bin.E company is also developing a smaller home version of the smart bin that will probably be cheaper than office one. John Lewis is already selling a voice activated sensor bin, but this does not have the automatic sorting capability of the Bin.E.
The company is also developing smart bins for outside use.
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