Abstract: Water pollution caused by plastics has come into being as a prevalent and alarming environmental problem with detrimental consequences on aqua systems and human well-being. The presence of ubiquitous plastics such as bottles, bags, and other packaging materials in the environment has resulted in plastics pollution of rivers, lakes, and oceans, which is a critical issue that requires immediate action and comprehensive solutions. Discarded plastic bags, bottles, and packaging materials enter water bodies through various routes such as poor disposal, storm water, and poor waste management, among others. Once in water, plastics begin to physically degrade and breakdown into smaller pieces which are commonly known as microplastics. They are microscopic substances mostly not visible to the naked eye, yet they have affected water sources worldwide. Garbage classification has become an increasingly popular topic in recent years. The rivers are used for disposing untreated plastic wastes which are responsible for degrading the amount of dissolved oxygen in water.
The main aim of the project is to introduce a surface water trash collector based on object detection. This system will help in collecting plastic waste from waterbodies. This innovative system will employ cameras and sensors strategically positioned to monitor and detect plastic in real-time. The collected data will be processed and analysed using OpenCV image detection to identify and categorize the plastic accurately. The system also includes conveyor belt that picks up plastic and dumps it in the designated trash bin.
Considering the growing concern for environmental preservation, our project seeks to address this critical issue and provide a cost-effective, and efficient solution for the management of surface water pollution. Our project primarily aims at reducing the manual labour and time consumption involved in cleaning the water bodies. Automating the process of waste collection using deep learning techniques and segregating the wastes will make it easy for the industries to recycle plastic wastes.
Keywords: Raspberry Pi 3, H Bridge circuit, Opencv, Catamaran, COCO
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