You are on page 1of 6

UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

MECHANICAL & PRODUCTION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

PROJECT SYNOPSIS

Tentative Project Title: Trash Compressor for Domestic Use

Student Name: HOSANY Beebee Hamnah

Programme of Study: BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering (Minor: Energy Systems)

Supervisor(s): Dr. Mahendra Gooroochurn

Background Problem Description

In 2013, according to the Digest of Environment Statistics published by the Ministry of Finance
and Economic Development, the average amount of waste per person per day was 0.93kg. This
lead to an astonishing 408,858 tonnes of waste being dumped into Mare Chicose for that said
year (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, 2014). This waste consists of
everything from paper to plastic to cans, as well as green wastes which consists of vegetables
and garden wastes.

Mare Chicose is the only dumping ground in Mauritius. Due to the massive amount of waste
being produced daily, there is an ever growing need to expand the ground for waste disposal.
This expansion however, gives rise to other problems. The pungent smell propagates easily in
the air over a wide area, thus causing problems for people living around the area. Moreover,
Mauritius being a tropical country, the high heat, and heavy rainfalls also contributes to the
discomfort of the people living nearby.

Another cause of the growing mountain of waste in Mare Chicose is due to the lack of waste
sorting in Mauritius. Having been around for several years, bins which have been provided for
waste sorting throughout the Island is barely used correctly and effectively. On a domestic level
itself, there is rarely an efficient sort out of the produced waste. Due to its ease of execution,
throwing everything in a single bin is what is currently being done by most households.
The inefficiency of this type of waste throwing keeps increasing, the problems not being limited
to the above mentioned. The methane gas produced by the slow decomposition of the wastes
are barely collected, the once recyclable things get contaminated, thus making it impossible to
recycle and the increasing propagation of mosquitoes and other insects which then migrate
towards areas where people live.

Consequently, a solution needs to be found for this ever growing mountain of waste and all the
other problems and complications it accompanies.

Aim(s) and objective of the Project

The aim of this project is to design a domestic trash compactor, along with a sorting system,
which will consist of an inlet for each of the following; plastic, paper, perishable goods
(vegetable peels and garden wastes), cans and lastly, non-recyclable goods which may consist
of frozen food boxes, materials with foil coatings, dirtied paper. (Expatmauritius.com, 2017)

A person using the trash compactor is to place the different waste in their specific inlet. Once
a quantity has been reached, the trash compactor is to automatically compact the waste, thus
producing a rectangular mass of waste. The compacted waste can be piled up neatly, taking up
less space, as well as it can be easily carried. The sorting out of the waste having already been
done before compacting, the rectangular shaped mass of waste can easily be given away for
recycling.

Proposed Methodology

Identification of needs
Research and study on types of recycling done locally
Research on wastes being exported for recycling
Research on general mass that can be easily lifted by an average person
Generations of ideas
Ideas and concepts will be based on research and analysis
Selection of ideas
Comparing of different selected ideas and the best one will be chosen
Detailed development of chosen idea
Specifications of everything including materials to be used, pumps to be used, and force
required to compress each type of waste
Final design
Testing of design concept
The design will be tested to each type of wasted to be compacted and the forces required
as well as power to be consumed by the trash compactor using computer aided software
Time frame- Gantt chart

Month
Tasks April May June July August September October November
Identification of needs
and problem description

Research & Analysis

Generation of Ideas

Selection of Idea

Detailed Development

Final Design

Testing of design
concepts

Report writing and


submission
Selected references

Expatmauritius.com. (2017). ExpatMauritius.com - Recycling in Mauritius. [online] Available


at: http://www.expatmauritius.com/pop_recycling.asp [Accessed 19 Apr. 2017].

Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (2014). Digest of Environment Statistics.


Student signature . Date:

Supervisor(s) signature Date:

Received by .. Date: .

Programme Coordinator:

You might also like