Bin Bypass wins Genesys Wireless Sensing Competition

Genesys is pleased to announce the winner of a competition it ran earlier this year for companies to win a $5000 contribution toward the cost of developing a custom sensing device. The competition was held on LinkedIn to promote the launch of the new Genesys Wireless Sensing Platform.

Companies were asked to submit their idea for deploying sensors to enhance their device. Each submission was followed up and evaluated against a set of criteria. Genesys was looking for use cases that would demonstrate the utility of its platform and provide a textbook example of how we can rapidly develop a product for customers.

The Bin Bypass docking station

The winner of the competition is Bin Bypass. This Queensland-based company is on a mission to divert as many containers from landfills as possible while making container collection safer and more dignified for collectors.

Currently, less than 20% of Australian street bins provide consumers with an option to recycle, and each year a large number of containers are not recycled in the states and territories of Australia with Container Deposit Schemes in operation. 

With several trials underway in three states, Bin Bypass aims to deploy 10,000 of its products around Australia, diverting nearly 2 billion containers from landfills and assisting collectors in obtaining nearly $200 million in extra refunds.

Docking stations are attached to existing street infrastructure, allowing passersby to place empty glass, plastic and aluminium beverage containers into holes. Collectors looking to receive the container refund can then easily retrieve them instead of having to rummage through public bins. Improving the dignity of collection work will encourage more people to participate in container collection activities.

The challenge for Bin Bypass is quantifying the benefit of the system to managers of public space who are keen to understand the impact of the product for their sustainability targets. The competition entry was to develop a new version of their product with sensors that enabled them to count how many containers are put into the system and how many are taken out.

Illustration of the sensing concept

The system involves time-of-flight sensors that detect the presence of containers inserted into the device. Periodically, the system counts the number of containers stored in the device and provides timeframes of when containers are deposited and removed. It then calculates the total number of containers placed in the device over a period of time. Because the electronics need to be sealed against environmental factors and tampering, the data will be egressed via Bluetooth for the duration of the field trials, with future provision for remote access to the data via a low-power wide-area network.

The project to develop the electronically enabled version of its product is well underway and expected to be delivered by the end of June.

For more information on how to rapidly develop your own wireless sensing device, view our web pages on wireless wearables, asset tracking, and environmental sensing.