EN
Using Smart Trash Bins to
Solve the Problem of Littering
Tourist Spots Littered with Trash
Tourist spots across Japan receive a significant number of visitors from within the country and overseas, which has led to the problem of littering.
For the merchants’ association of the Dotonbori shopping district in Osaka Prefecture, popular among tourists as Kuidaore (food crawl) town, the trash left behind from eating tours has become particularly problematic, causing a deterioration in the scenery and public hygiene that must be addressed. Although every food and beverage shop has installed trash bins, the effort is not sufficient, and a lot of garbage continues to be carelessly discarded on the streets and inside facilities. In addition, since the streets in the shopping district are public spaces, placing a trash bin requires various permits, as well as time and effort, which has hindered installation.
Installing Smart Trash Bins for a Cleaner Dotonbori
NTT Communications is working with the Dotonbori Merchants’ Association and other local companies to install ICT-based Smart Trash Bins in the Dotonbori district. In this initiative, we responded to the local community’s call for help and took the lead in initiating and coordinating the Dotonbori Clean Project, a co-creative project involving the local community, businesses, and government.
During a demonstration in January 2023, we placed one Smart Trash Bin in the shopping district to verify the impact in terms of the increase or decrease in the volume of litter and the sustainability of operation. We installed a Smart Trash Bin developed by Forcetec, Inc. called SmaGO, which not only supports the real-time cloud-based monitoring of the accumulated trash using an IoT sensor inside the bin but also automatically compresses the content, making it possible to hold approximately six times the normal amount of trash. The system also sends a notification to smartphones of personnel in charge as the level of trash bin fills up.
As a result of the pilot demonstration, the total weight of litter was reduced by 39%, and the total number of littered items was 14% less than before installation. What is more, thanks to the compressing function, the frequency of trash collection fell from several times a day to just once a day, and there was no trash overflow from the bins during the test period. The decrease in the frequency of trash collection also led to reducing the time and costs needed to conduct patrols to monitor the condition of the bins and collect trash, thus confirming that the local community including merchants’ association was able to sustainably operate the bins without any risk of overflowing.
By November 2023, a total of ten Smart Trash Bins were placed in the Dotonbori area.
Contributing to Sustainable Tourism
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Kazuaki Sanri
First Solution & Marketing Division
Kansai Regional OfficeInstalling trash bins on local streets and in locations not privately owned requires permission from the local government and other local authorities, so the local community, businesses, and government must work together to promote the project. Therefore, we leveraged our problem-solving ability to formulate an ICT-based solution, launch the co-creative project, and install Smart Trash Bins. We will contribute to the development of Dotonbori into a world-class international tourist city in advance of the upcoming Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, by making the town cleaner than ever by placing more Smart Trash Bins and having the merchants’ association release announcements to encourage people to stop littering. Apart from the Dotonbori area, we will also strive to help other regions where littering is a problem. Also, we will take on the challenge of creating Smart Cities, beginning with the installation of Smart Trash Bins.
Note: The content of this article is as of December 2024
