The Technology Behind the Idea
Cigarette ends are the most common type of litter in London. 6 million cigarette butts are dropped on the City of London’s streets every year, and £3.8 million is spent clearing it up. This is a particular problem outside tube stations. People who are in a hurry just throw their cigarette end away, even if there is a bin right there. Imagine if there was a simple solution to this problem: a cigarette bin, that was easy to use, helped the environment, and rewarded the users all in one. With this new innovation for a cigarette bin outside tube stations, commuters will be able to simply swipe their oyster card, put their cigarette butt into the bin, and have a chance of winning a lottery, the reward of which will be a Golden Pass. This will give commuters one year’s free travel on all of TFL’s network, and the lottery will run monthly.. This will benefit TFL because if people use this system, TFL will not have to clear up all of the cigarette butts outside their tube stations. So it’s a win-win situation.
Our bin design is very easy to fund and make. It requires a metal cylindrical casing much like the disposal bins that TFL already have around stations. The bin has a grate on top for stubbing out the cigarette and next to this is a slot to drop the extinguished cigarettes into. An oyster card reader will be located on the front of the bin and when a card is scanned it will start a camera that is positioned inside the bin. The picture taken of the cigarette will be fed to the computer where it will be compared and the API technology will be initiated. There is a white LED light inside the bin so that the camera can get a clearer picture. There is also a display board above the oyster reader to tell TFL customers whether the process was successful or not. Links to a computer model of this design can be found below.
The combined cost of the electrical hardware is currently under £30 for each bin, this includes: Raspberry Pi Linux computer model 2b (£25), Raspberry Pi compatible matrix board (£15), small camera (£14) servo motor (£1), buzzer (£0.1), several LED lights (<£0.05), wires (negligible). All of these components would be significantly cheaper if ordered in higher numbers and it would be easy to replace the Raspberry Pi Linux computer model 2b with just the select components necessary. The actual cost for the amount of stainless steel required for one bin would be approximately £30-£50.
The software required for the bin would be very simple and inexpensive. Once all the necessary hardware was in place (circuit board, camera, motor, etc.) all that would be required is some basic code on the circuit board to take the picture. Once the picture had been saved as an image file, it would then send it to an image recognition API. There are multiple online APIs available for a fee: CloudSight and Imagga are two examples. (http://www.cloudsightapi.com and https://imagga.com) CloudSight charges rates based on the number of images used, whereas Imagga charges monthly. CloudSight charges $399 for 10 000 images, and Imagga charges $349 for 300 000 images per month. Both are just two example of existing services. The Government may also have an internal API that could be used, or a custom API could even be developed for the product. For each successfully identified cigarette dropped into the bin, the user gets an additional chance to win the Golden Ticket. The light would then flash green or red, depending on the results of the image verification, and then regardless of result, the cigarette would drop into the bin below, ready for collection.
While there are multiple ways of disposing of the cigarettes once they have been thrown away, we have identified one possible method that would be easy and completely free. An organisation called TerraCycle will accept shipments of various sorts of waste, including cigarette waste, for free.. http://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-UK/ All that would be required is to sign up to one of their “brigades”, download the free shipping labels and send the cigarettes to them. They will recycle it in a completely environmentally friendly way completely free of charge. Using this method TFL would not have to deal with any of the waste, but rather send it off to an organisation who will recycle it for free.
The benefits to the user of the system are at this point very clear, but it is also hugely beneficial to TFL. As previously stated, £3.8 million is spent every year cleaning up the 6 million cigarettes and other rubbish dropped in the City of London alone, and much of this will be concentrated outside tube stations. Going off the current cost of the Annual Travelcard, which is £3,336, and the fact that the lottery runs once every month, the cost of the lottery would work out to £40032 per year once the system had been implemented. That is an incredibly small percentage of the current cost of cleaning cigarette litter; approximately 1% of the current cost. Once the system had been set into place there would be minimal costs outside of the lottery, as with TerraCycle disposing of the cigarettes would be completely free of charge. Finally, as well as the financial benefit and the obvious benefit to the environment, it would also hugely benefit TFL’s public image; by showing the TFL cares about the environment and the growing litter problem in London customers would be far more likely to view TFL in a positive light.
As detailed above, this would be a very good solution to the problem of cigarette litter outside tube stations. TFL will not have to spend nearly as much on clearing up the cigarettes, and commuters also get rewarded for putting their cigarettes ends into the bin. This is an inexpensive way of keeping station areas tidy, and benefits TFL’s public image enormously by showing everyone how much TFL cares about the environment. Surely this is a good solution to the problem?
The code for our prototype can be found at https://github.com/teamshortcut/ReStub/
The combined cost of the electrical hardware is currently under £30 for each bin, this includes: Raspberry Pi Linux computer model 2b (£25), Raspberry Pi compatible matrix board (£15), small camera (£14) servo motor (£1), buzzer (£0.1), several LED lights (<£0.05), wires (negligible). All of these components would be significantly cheaper if ordered in higher numbers and it would be easy to replace the Raspberry Pi Linux computer model 2b with just the select components necessary. The actual cost for the amount of stainless steel required for one bin would be approximately £30-£50.
The software required for the bin would be very simple and inexpensive. Once all the necessary hardware was in place (circuit board, camera, motor, etc.) all that would be required is some basic code on the circuit board to take the picture. Once the picture had been saved as an image file, it would then send it to an image recognition API. There are multiple online APIs available for a fee: CloudSight and Imagga are two examples. (http://www.cloudsightapi.com and https://imagga.com) CloudSight charges rates based on the number of images used, whereas Imagga charges monthly. CloudSight charges $399 for 10 000 images, and Imagga charges $349 for 300 000 images per month. Both are just two example of existing services. The Government may also have an internal API that could be used, or a custom API could even be developed for the product. For each successfully identified cigarette dropped into the bin, the user gets an additional chance to win the Golden Ticket. The light would then flash green or red, depending on the results of the image verification, and then regardless of result, the cigarette would drop into the bin below, ready for collection.
While there are multiple ways of disposing of the cigarettes once they have been thrown away, we have identified one possible method that would be easy and completely free. An organisation called TerraCycle will accept shipments of various sorts of waste, including cigarette waste, for free.. http://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-UK/ All that would be required is to sign up to one of their “brigades”, download the free shipping labels and send the cigarettes to them. They will recycle it in a completely environmentally friendly way completely free of charge. Using this method TFL would not have to deal with any of the waste, but rather send it off to an organisation who will recycle it for free.
The benefits to the user of the system are at this point very clear, but it is also hugely beneficial to TFL. As previously stated, £3.8 million is spent every year cleaning up the 6 million cigarettes and other rubbish dropped in the City of London alone, and much of this will be concentrated outside tube stations. Going off the current cost of the Annual Travelcard, which is £3,336, and the fact that the lottery runs once every month, the cost of the lottery would work out to £40032 per year once the system had been implemented. That is an incredibly small percentage of the current cost of cleaning cigarette litter; approximately 1% of the current cost. Once the system had been set into place there would be minimal costs outside of the lottery, as with TerraCycle disposing of the cigarettes would be completely free of charge. Finally, as well as the financial benefit and the obvious benefit to the environment, it would also hugely benefit TFL’s public image; by showing the TFL cares about the environment and the growing litter problem in London customers would be far more likely to view TFL in a positive light.
As detailed above, this would be a very good solution to the problem of cigarette litter outside tube stations. TFL will not have to spend nearly as much on clearing up the cigarettes, and commuters also get rewarded for putting their cigarettes ends into the bin. This is an inexpensive way of keeping station areas tidy, and benefits TFL’s public image enormously by showing everyone how much TFL cares about the environment. Surely this is a good solution to the problem?
The code for our prototype can be found at https://github.com/teamshortcut/ReStub/