BENGALURU : A group of city-based engineers have designed a smart waste crusher — an improved variant of the waste disposing device that BBMP wants to make mandatory for new homes.
Mayor Sampath Raj said on Tuesday that the BBMP will make it mandatory for kitchens in new homes to install crushers to dispose food waste. These electric devices are typically attached with kitchen sinks. They crush food waste and mix it with water, which is then allowed to flow into the drain.
Bengaluru-based engineers Sag -ar Sagi and Kamal Raj came up with the idea two years ago and conducted testing for one-and-a-half-years. The device, titled BinIT, would perform the same function, with some smart features incorporated into it and can be used with an app.
“Users can schedule the crushing operation for a specific time later. The device will also be self-cleaning. The app will also provide data of waste generation over a time period so that users can be aware of the amount of waste they generate,” said Sagi.
A concern with other waste disposing devices is that the crushed waste can clog drain pipes. Sagi says BinIT has been designed to grind the food particles into a particular size that's not too big so that they don't clog drains, and not too small which might make the mixture pasty and hence impede flow. The device would be a notch better than the ones available abroad, which reportedly do not have any smart features incorporated in them.
The team has received four orders for the product — three from Bengaluru and one from the USA. They have built a working prototype and have received a working patent for the product. They are currently carrying out a crowd-funding campaign on an online platform to raise funds for the product, and have raised $4,891 (`3,19,602) in two weeks so far. They expect to deliver the first product by May 2018. The product is designed to be odourless, and consumes minimal electricity and water. The team has not yet decided the cost of each product in the market.