Trash Talker

A Sensor-based waste management system

Patent No: 202341062046

⚠️ The Problem

While growing up in a rapidly urbanizing India, I couldn’t help but notice how mismanaged waste impacted not just cleanliness but the environment around us. Overflowing bins. Mixed garbage. Improper disposal of medical, wet, and dry waste. These weren’t just inefficiencies - they were hazards, symptoms of a system that hadn’t scaled with the people it was meant to serve.

Digging deeper, I learned how poor waste segregation leads to water contamination, land degradation, and missed recycling opportunities. I also discovered something powerful: if managed well, waste isn't just a burden - it can be a resource.

🗝️ The Solution Trash Talker

This led me to design Trash Talker, a sensor-based, automated waste management system that doesn't just store trash… it thinks about it. It was a technically ambitious, multi-stage, sensor-integrated solution that went beyond ideas. It detects, separates, processes, and even filters waste. It uses ultrasonic sensors, servo motors, IR detectors, and conveyor systems. And yes, it was granted an Indian utility patent - because I believed in turning innovation into real, protectable IP.

💪 My Role & Execution

As the product innovator, I led end-to-end execution:

Discovery:

Conducted interviews with sanitation workers and local civic bodies.
Mapped current workflows and failure points.

Prototyping:

Built logic using Arduino, IR sensors, and magnetic field detection.
Programmed segregation workflow based on material signatures.

Patent Filing:

Documented engineering design and claims.
Successfully published Indian utility patent.

Waste management globally suffers from poor segregation leading to contamination.

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Over 80% of waste in developing countries is mixed and poorly processed.

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📝 What This Taught Me

Trash Talker didn’t start my journey - it accelerated it.

I’ve always known I wanted to become an entrepreneur. I’ve always looked at the world through a lens of possibilities and solutions. Trash Talker was born from that mindset.

It began as a concept I envisioned - and I took it forward by interviewing sanitation workers, observing real-world gaps, and guiding a small team to help me validate and prototype the idea. This wasn’t just a technical project - it was a real-life exercise in product discovery, user research, and lean execution.

Through this experience, I sharpened my ability to: Think like a builder and a systems thinker. Distill user pain into actionable product ideas. Navigate ambiguity with experimentation, iteration, and user feedback.

This project didn’t introduce me to product thinking - it proved to me that I already was one.

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