NFC Bin Buddy

Tag your bins with their collection schedule

In the UK most households have multiple bins (trash cans), one for rubbish, one for recyclable materials and possibly one for garden waste. These bins are usually collected on alternate weeks. So here's the problem, how do you tell which bin is to be collected and when?

With Bin Buddy you can stick an NFC sticker to each bin and encode it with recurring rules. Now, simply wave your phone over your bin and Bin Buddy will tell you when it is due for collection, it can even read out how many days until you need to put it out.

Sure, you could achieve this with repeating calendar entries, but you have a £500 phone in your pocket, why not use it (and confuse your neighbours)?

Usage is simple. Open the app, select the start date (this could be the last date that the bin was collected) and pick how many days days there are between collections. Next pick how many days before hand you want to be warned. If you scan a bin more than this number of days away from collection you will get no notification. Finally, pick how you would like to be notified. A simple popup, a noise, have your phone talk to you or a combination of them all. Hit Write Tag and encode this data to your bin.

To read the tag, simply wave your phone (unlocked but in any app) over the NFC tag and marvel at the results.

All data is stored on the sticker so why not buy everyone in your household an NFC enabled android phone so they can tell when the bins need taking out?

The use of this app goes beyond bins. It can be applied to any object that requires interaction on a regular interval. I use it on some meds that I need to take every 4 days. I plan to use it on my car to tell me when it needs servicing and when I need to check the tyres.

If you can think of any cool uses, leave them in a review below.