Abstract:

Millions polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are produced every day and get in landfills, rivers, seas and oceans. PETs lasts 700-800 years until they begin to decompose and will only disintegrate after about 1000 years. Although very difficult to disintegrate, PET is a 100% recyclable material. PET / recycled polyester is used as raw material for textile fibres or other PET packaging. Recycling is a solution both to reduce environmental pollution and to save natural resources. Recycling and selective waste collection is a major issue worldwide for which innovative technical solutions are sought. This paper presents the results of experimental research for an intelligent waste management system, conducted by a team of researchers in the frame of master's program Complex Projects' Engineering and Management from University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest. The customized macroplanning for the developed technical solutions with multiple design phases, was based on business strategy, needs analysis, concept generation and selection eventually ending up with the building and testing of a functional prototype. Also, based on a customized electrical and software architecture, a Smart Management Application for controlling the prototype is described in this work.