An NB-IoT-based smart trash can system for
improved health in smart cities
Yujie Zhu1 , Gangyong Jia1 , Guangjie Han2 , Zeren Zhou2 , Mohsen Guizani3
1
Department of Computer Science and Technology, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, China
2
Department of Information and Communication Systems, Hohai University, Changzhou, China
3
College of Engineering, Qatar University, Qatar
hdu computer323@163.com, gangyong@hdu.edu.cn, hanguangjie@gmail.com, zzr527940729@outlook.com, mguizani@ieee.org
Abstract—The intelligent treatment of urban garbage is an
important component of creating a smart city and also solves
several problems associated with urban garbage. Many tra-
ditional garbage cans are widely distributed, resulting in a
waste of human and material resources, untimely government.
Therefore, in this paper, we propose an intelligent system based
on edge computing and the narrow-band Internet of things (NB-
IoT) for monitoring smart trash cans (STCs). The deployed
intelligent garbage cans are distributed throughout the city and
are equipped with a variety of sensors, including a compression
sensor, a location sensor, an infrared sensor, and an alarm sensor.
The data sent from the smart bins are preprocessed through edge
nodes for data classification and priority transmission, which
reduces the required network transmission bandwidth and the
computational tasks at the centralized data center. The NB-IoT
is a narrow-band communication technology with low power
consumption, wide coverage, low cost, and large capacity. The
experimental results show that the proposed STC system shows
good system performance, and allows for intelligent management
of garbage in smart cities.
Index Terms—smart trash cans, NB-IoT, sensor, intelligent
management
I. I NTRODUCTION
In recent years, urbanization has increased due to increased
economic development, resulting in explosive growth in the
amount of garbage[1]. Inappropriate disposal of garbage pol-
lutes the city and may cause bacterial diseases[2]. In most
cities[3][4], garbage disposal is associated with a number of
problems, including large amounts of garbage, large service
areas, leakage of waste gas and water, difficulties in timely
disposal, and financial loss. In consideration of these problems,
in this paper, we propose the smart trash can (STC) system,
which is effective, easy to implement, secure, and extendable.
The proposed STC system consists of three components,
i.e., the smart garbage cans, the edge nodes and the narrow-
band Internet of things (NB-IoT), and the control platform.
Each garbage can is monitored by the platform 24 hours a
day. Smart garbage cans are equipped with various sensors.
Specifically, a compression sensor provides information on
the garbage volume and a warning system provides alerts for
full garbage cans, spills, fault or massive harmful substance.
Location information can also be detected in real time. The
deployed edge nodes collect feedback information from the
978-1-5386-7747-6/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
STCs and determine if the operating conditions are normal or
if emergency measures are required. The NB-IoT technology
achieves data reception and transmission with low power, wide
coverage, high security, and low cost[5]. The control platform
can be operated on different terminals such as large servers,
personal computers, or tablets, providing mobile and scalable
applications.
The platform was implemented in the XiaSha District of
Hangzhou and the experimental results demonstrated good
system performance. The proposed STC increases the load
capacity of the garbage cans, requires less human and material
resources, and allows for intelligent management[6][7].
The main contributions of this study are:
• Smart trash cans are equipped with different types of sen-
sors to increase system functionality, including Improving
carrying capacity, detecting the amount of harmful sub-
stances, and even detecting faults.
• The edge nodes process in situ information and transmit
the data, which reduces the computing load and transmis-
sion requirement.
• The collected data includes the location information on
the trash can, which facilitates the fixed-point search
and maintenance of the post-workers, and improves the
overall work efficiency.
• We conduct a detailed analysis of the data obtained from
the control platform, which is a reflection of system
performance.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. We
first review the related literature to provide an understanding
of the existing communication technology. Next, we describe
the system architecture including the STC, the edge nodes,
NB-IoT, and the control platform. Subsequently, we describe
experimental application and the results of the data analysis.
The last section concludes the paper.
II. RELATED WORKS
In recent years, rapid developments in communication tech-
nology in the field of the IoT have resulted in changes from
the previously used wireless local area network (WLAN),
Bluetooth, and Zigbee to Sigfox, LoRa, and NB-IoT[8].
WLAN is a local network using wireless communication
technology to provide users with network access. The imple-
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mentation of the WLAN allows devices to access the network
as long as they are located within the signal coverage, which
is different from the fixed network port[9]. However, the
performance of WLAN is not stable[10]. Buildings, vehicles,
trees, and other obstacles in the transmission path impede
the transmission of the electromagnetic waves and affect the
performance of the network[11][12].
ZigBee is an emerging short-range, low-complexity, low-
power wireless network technology. ZigBee systems can com-
municate with each other across thousands of tiny sensors and
are in sleep mode or in the non-operating state. The power
consumption in the sleep mode is only one-thousandth of that
in the normal operating state. However, the communication
stability of ZigBee is not high. A door, a window, and a
nonload-bearing wall can greatly reduce the signal strength.
Bluetooth establishes a general near-field wireless inter-
face for the communication environment and achieves mu-
tual communication or operation within close range[13]. The
emergence of Bluetooth has solved the volume problem and
enables crossvendor operations[14]. Bluetooth applications are
not limited to computer peripherals but can also be integrated
into any digital device, especially mobile devices and portable
devices that require high data transfer rates[15].
Sigfox is a low-power wide-area technology with a low
transmission rate. It uses unlicensed frequency bands and is
committed to building a global IoT network. The spectrum
of the signal transmission is divided into two categories: one
is the private sector of the country in which the spectrum
is licensed; the other is the common spectrum, which is the
unlicensed spectrum. Sigfox does not have its own licensed
spectrum and can only transmit on unlicensed radio frequency
bands.
LoRa is a low-power wide-area network (WAN) tech-
nology[16]. LoRa changes the previously required trade-off
between transmission distance and power consumption by
providing users with long distance, long battery life, and large-
capacity transmissions. However, LoRa requires companies
to build their own networks. LoRa technology is generally
suitable for private network information transmission within
enterprises and communities but is not very suitable for the
IoT.
NB-IoT is a new technology in the IoT field. The NB-IoT
is built on a cellular network that consumes low bandwidth
of about 180 KHz[17]. The NB-IoT technology is able to
successfully cope with the characteristics of the terminal: wide
coverage, large quantity, and low power consumption. NB-IoT
employs narrow bands, retransmissions, and low-frequency
technology to achieve long-range signal transmissions[18]. A
power-saving mode (PSM) is used to allow the terminal to
turn off the radio frequency reception and enter a dormant
low power mode. In addition, the NB-IoT lengthens the time
of the discontinuous interception cycle and regular location
update cycle, which saves energy consumption of mass da-
ta transmission. At the terminal connection level, the NB-
IoT supports a large number of concurrent connections and
achieves mass terminal deployment through smaller resource
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granularity. The NB-IoT technology meets the requirements
of a large number of connections, long distance transmission,
low power consumption, and low bandwidth and is well suited
for the existing IoT[19].
III. SCT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The core idea of the proposed STC system is to solve the
problems associated with traditional garbage cans, i.e., a large
number of garbage cans, large service area, poor environment,
and difficulties in garbage classification. This serves as an
inspiration for developing intelligent management systems.
The STC system consists of three components: 1) The
STCs, which are categorized as STCs in a normal operating
state and a faulty state. Various types of sensors are installed in
the garbage cans. 2) The edge nodes and NB-IoT; The edge
nodes perform part of the computing tasks. The NB-IoT is
used for communicating between the platform server and the
STCs. 3) The operating platform, which consists of network
and computing, storage, and application systems. Figure 1
shows the STC system architecture.
A. Smart trash cans
Every STC is unique and is monitored 24 hours a day by
the control system. The sensors collect and upload data every
40 minute. Fault trash cans trigger an alarm mechanism. The
platform operators receive the alarms in a timely manner[20].
Subsequently, maintenance personnel is assigned to the desig-
nated region[21].
The garbage bins are equipped with a compression sensor,
which detects the current garbage capacity and determines if
compaction is required. If the garbage can is 80% full, the
compression sensor will trigger the compaction of the garbage
using an extrusion operation, thereby providing additional
space. If there is no extra space after a number of compression
operations, the sensors will indicate that the bin has to be
emptied.
The STCs can also detect harmful materials in the garbage
by using an infrared sensor. If the data indicate that the
corrosive components exceed the safety standards, the material
of the bins will be changed to an anti-corrosion material. In
areas where large amounts of toxic waste are disposed of,
the source of the toxic substance will be determined and the
relevant individuals will be contacted to carry out treatments.
The main operations in the check process of status informa-
tion monitoring of the trash can are presented in Algorithm 1.
The algorithm simplifies and comprehensively demonstrates
the state discrimination basis and all running states of the
smart trash can in the system, which vividly reflects the
state detection and running logic of the smart trash can. The
description of the algorithm shows to some extent the diversity,
comprehensiveness and intelligence of the system functions.
The maintenance personnel can locate the STCs precisely due
to the location sensor information. This improvement reduces
the number of personnel and material resources.
 Fig. 1. The STC system architecture.

B. Edge nodes and NB-IoT

Algorithm 1 : status information monitoring of the trash can.
Input: There are a large number of trash cans in a city and they are
safety line: acceptable maximum harmful substance content widely distributed, resulting in large amounts of data. It is not
harmful quantity: existing harmful substance quantity in appropriate to rely solely on centralized data processing[22].
the trash can Thus, the intelligent system based on edge computing and
trash quantity: the maximum amount of garbage that can NB-IoT technology is used. The edge nodes possess sufficient
be carried by the trash can computing power to conduct preprocessing of the source data
existing quantity: existing trash quantity of the trash can and then transmit the results to the centralized computing
compressed quantity: the amount of garbage left after center through the NB-IoT. The preprocessing determines
compression whether the operating conditions are normal or an emergency
equipment state: equipment failure detection result is occurring[23]. Emergency data have priority transmission.
failure: send alert message about equipment failure Figure 2 shows a flowchart of the data transmission process.
harmful: send alert message about excessive harmful
In addition to NB-IoT technology, existing Internet tech-
substance
nologies can be used, including WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth, Sigfox,
dumping: send dumping information
and LoRa. However, these technologies have their own draw-
normal: send data indicating normal operation
backs and cannot meet the requirements of the platform. We
output:
chose the NB-IoT as main communication technology, which
S: the state of the trash can
has the following advantages[24]:
Begin
01: if equipment state==1 • Large capacity: there are thousands of trash cans in a
02: S=failure; city and the large capacity of the NB-IoT allows for the
03: return; synchronous connection of all trash cans.
04: else • Wide coverage: NB-IoT has a 20 dB higher gain than
05: if harmful quantity>safety line the existing network, which is equivalent to increasing
06: S=harmful; the capacity of the coverage area 100 times.
07: if existing quantity / trash quantity>0.8 • Low cost: the module cost, power supply, and operating
08: existing quantity=compressed quantity; cost of the NB-IoT are cheaper than those of other com-
09: if existing quantity / trash quantity>0.8 munication technologies. With the ongoing development
10: S|=dumping; of the NB-IoT, the expected price of a single connection
11: else module will not exceed 5$ or even 2$, thereby greatly
12: return; reducing the cost of deployment.
13: else • Low power consumption: the NB-IoT module operates
14: S=normal; in 3 states: normal connection state, idle state, and PSM
15: return; state. In PSM mode, the maximum power consumption is
End 5 uA and it is about 6 mA in the idle mode. Both states
greatly reduce the energy consumption.

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 Fig. 2. The transmission of data.
C. Operation platform
The management platform is part of the STC system ar-
chitecture[25]. As described above, the intelligent platform
receives the data collected by the edge nodes, including the
priority transmission alarm data and normal feedback informa-
tion. Subsequently, the platform conducts overall analysis of
the data. If the feedback data indicate that garbage removal
occurs too frequently, additional garbage cans should be
added. If too much fault alarms occur, it should be investigated
if there was intentional damage to the garbage cans. If there
are too many alarms regarding corrosive or toxic substances,
it is necessary to contact professionals in the relevant gov-
ernment departments to determine the source of the harmful
substances. Moreover, The platform regularly performs data
backup operations for all information, preventing the loss of
data caused by unexpected failures.
IV. EXPERIMENTAL APPLICATION
Figure 3 shows the distribution of the STCs in a trial
application in Xiasha, Hangzhou, China. In normal conditions,
the sensors collect data on the garbage volume, harmful
waste, and so on[26]. Regular data are transmitted every 40
minute[27]. In contrast, alarm information is sent immediately.
The intelligent platform manages all the data. In the display,
different colors are used to indicate the different states of
the trash cans. When a trash can is removed or added, the
display in the platform is updated immediately. The real-time
data obtained by the platform are closely related to the actual
conditions[28].
V. RESULTS AND EVALUATION
The data results are presented in this section. The results of
the trial application demonstrate the intelligence and suitability
of the STC system.
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A. Removal Cycle
The removal period is based on the time it takes to reach
80% of the garbage can volume after a few compaction cycles.
In addition, the removal cycle of the STCs is recorded and sent.
In order to demonstrate the suitability of the STC system, we
deployed the STCs in different locations and collected the data.
The location and number of the STCs are based on the area,
population, population flow, etc. We collected data from 10
trash cans located in different regions. Each trash can collect
100 groups of data. Figure 4 shows the removal cycles of the
trash cans. The X-axis represents the number of trash cans
and the serial number of the can. The Y-axis is the removal
cycle of the trash can. Figure 5 shows that the average removal
time is similar and is around 18-20 minutes. The data do not
fluctuate much because an adjustment was made when the
STCs were deployed. The number of trash cans is reduced by
using compaction, which increases the bin capacity. This will
result in a marked reduction in the number of trash cans in
the city.
B. Harmful substances warning information
The condition of STCs has four states: normal, excessive
harmful substance, broken, and full. Figure 6 shows the
harmful substance warning result in the 1000 test. In Figure 6,
the X-axis depicts the number of tested garbage bins and the
Y-axis indicates the alarm state, where 1 represents the normal
situation, 2 means that the amount of harmful substances
exceeds the safety standard, which will trigger the safety
alarm. The alarm state is one of the key values for the edge
node to determine whether the transmission takes priority.
The results show that 6 of the 1000 test cases were alerts
for hazardous substances, accounting for 0.6% of the total.
The quantity of hazardous substances is relatively small and
is accepted by the system.
 Fig. 3. The distribution of smart trash cans.
Fig. 4. Scatter diagram of removal cycle.
Fig. 5. Average dumping time of the trash can.
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Fig. 6. Alarm state of excessive harmful substances, where 1 denotes the
normal state, and 2 denotes the alarm state.
C. Fault warning information
Figure 7 shows the detection result of the broken bins
in the 1000 test. The X-axis depicts the number of tested
garbage bins and the Y-axis describes whether there is a fault
state, where 1 indicates a normal condition, 2 indicates that
there is a fault and warning information is sent. The fault
alarm information causes the edge nodes to execute priority
forwarding similar to the alert information for the harmful
substances. The results show that 10 of the 1000 tests were
alerts for faults, accounting for 1%, which is an acceptable
proportion.
VI. CONCLUSION
We proposed an STC system based on edge computing
and NB-IoT. The STC system consists of the STCs, the

Fig. 7. Equipment fault state, where 1 denotes the normal state, and 2 denotes
the faulty state.
NB-IoT, edge nodes, and servers and all components are
interconnected. The STCs are equipped with a variety of
sensors that transmit data to the nearest edge node. The
edge node performs preprocessing tasks, including sorting,
optimizing, and forwarding the data. The transmission of the
data relies on NB-IoT transmission technology to achieve
low power consumption and long-distance transmission. NB-
IoT has the advantages of long-distance transmission, low
power consumption, and low cost, which meets the needs of a
garbage disposal system with numerous garbage cans located
throughout the city. The STCs are managed and monitored
by control platform. The proposed STC system represents
a breakthrough in both design concept and structure, which
echoes the idea of the Internet of everything.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work is supported by the National Key Research
and Development Program, No.YS2017YFGH001945 and the
National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant
No.61602137, the National Natural Science Foundation of
China-Guangdong Joint Fund under Grant No.U1801264 and
supported by Six talent peaks project in Jiangsu Province,
No.XYDXXJS-007 and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Sci-
ence Foundation under Grant LY19F020044.
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