Underlying Issue

The goal for this installation is to encourage residents to obey the law which requires them to put out their trash for collection only on the morning of the scheduled pick up. In researching the background for this issue, no news or magazine articles were found (using EBSCO Host) nor any web nor Venipedia articles describing a widespread garbage problem in the city of Venice. However, human nature being what it is, there are some areas in which there are find habitual offenders. In other words, certain people do not understand the reason for the law and therefore consider it a nuisance to be avoided. They put the trash receptacles or just trash bags out at their own convenience without regard for the inconvenience caused to others. The inconveniences that others endure include sidewalks and alleys blocked by cans or bags of garbage and litter strewn streets as a result of trash blown out of its container or thrown around by foraging birds and animals.

As background for this installation it would be helpful to know how trash collection does work in Venice. VEnezia Servizi Territoriali Ambientali (VESTA) is the waste management company for the city. VESTA collects garbage 6 days a week. Upon arrival, the garbage collector knocks or rings the doorbell to alert the residents to their arrival. The resident then allows the worker in to collect the trash, or the resident himself/herself will bring the trash to the cart. The cart, once full, is then brought to a dockside collection station to be emptied onto a barge. The barge also collects the recyclables in a separate bin.[1] It is not necessary for the resident to be home at the time of collection. The resident is allowed leave the trash outside in the morning, but not the night before and not on Sundays. It is very difficult for enforcement personnel to catch a scofflaw “in the act” so this installation hopes to do that for us, in a sense.

Concept

At these common sites, put sensors to detect people dumping the trash. When triggered, spray really strong perfume. This could be a foul smell, sprayed in sufficient concentration to be very unpleasant. Alternatively, it could be a scent that is normally nice, but sprayed in such concentration that it is staggering.

Design

This system would require a sensor, a controller and an actuator. The actuator would be some device that will spray the perfume when it detects someone with the sensor. There are a number of consumer products, such as the Air Wick FRESHMATIC Ultra or this Automatic Air Freshener Dispenser with a Photo Cell, that spray perfumes of sorts into the air for freshening. There are also more commercial products, such as the Good Sense Automatic Spray Dispenser System, for public bathrooms and the like. Unfortunately, all of these devices are designed to perform their functions to a pleasant extent, and so are not enough for this installation. This could be solved by modifying one of these devices. It should be possible to disconnect the actuator control signal from the device's native control unit and attach it to the control unit chosen for this installation. This installation is simpler in input and output functions, so a simpler controller can be used. A microcontroller, such as a Sun SPOT, or an Arduino could be used to accomplish this purpose. They are capable of receiving the input from a sensor and triggering the spray.

To make a solid decision about a sensor to use, more needs to be known about the specifics of the location that the installation will be installed at. If it will be an area that generally sees very little activity, a simple motion detector could be used. If there is a set area that is know to be used for dropping garbage bags, then a perimeter of beam sensors could be used to detect someone's arrival in the area. In other cases, one or more ultrasonic rangefinding sensors could be used to detect the added presence of trash or people. The specific selection of sensor will be tailored to a given location for the installation.

need to decide on sensor method

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