JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The global waste problem is becoming more complex due to the increasing amount and volume of waste that a country cannot manage. Indonesia is one of the developing countries that has experienced this problem.

Objective:

This research proposes a model called Circonomy, which seeks to address waste management and enhance the circular economy in Indonesia. Our model, Circonomy, is inspired by the Waste Bank, which is regulated by Indonesian government regulations as one of the community-based waste management initiatives. This model comprises IoT-based components integrated with mobile and web applications, with a semantic web and gamification approach. Our research has contribution by proposing a model to enhance waste management and encourage users to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste (3Rs of waste management) by providing incentive schemas using IoT technology, Semantic Web, and Gamification.

Methods:

Design Research and Science Methodology is used to build the prototype as model implementation, which consists of six main activities, i.e.: (1) Problem Identification, (2) Solution Proposal, (3) Prototyping, (4) Evaluation, and (5) Statement of Learning, and (6) Communications.

Results:

The prototype has the main features of automatically weighing and recording waste collection using a load cell, motor servo, and ultrasonic sensor. The data obtained from the sensor is then sent to Wifi ESP 32, recorded at mobile and web applications, and presented at LED as bin status information. We have tested and evaluated our model in terms of technology and approach. There are some limitations to the accuracy of our smart bin’s detection related to the occupancy of the bin. The position of the ultrasonic sensor determines the accuracy of the bin’s occupancy calculation since not all the waste has the exact dimensions. Therefore, the placement and viewpoint of the ultrasonic sensor on the bin are crucial. However, we discover that the gamification approach is promising to be embedded in our model and prototype by adopting its concepts, such as points, rewards, and leaderboards.

Conclusions:

There is much to be done for our future works by adding more features from gamification concept, such as challenges and badges. The semantic web should be optimized through linked data to our gamification approach to connect and motivate all the stakeholders in waste management and circular economy activities.