TerraSort is a smart waste sorting system I designed and built for Expo City Dubai, leading a team of five called Terra Byte. We pitched it at the II Sustainable Packaging Symposium, and it won the 2025 packaging design competition.
It sits on top of the bins Expo already has. You hold an item in the scan zone, it works out what the item is and whether it's clean, and then it opens only the correct hatch.
The problem
Recycling breaks down at the bin. Two things cause most of it:
Lookalike materials
PLA, a bioplastic, and PET, a regular plastic, look the same. People can't tell them apart, and neither can most cameras.
No feedback
Nobody tells you that you used the wrong bin, so habits never improve.
Contamination leads to batch rejections, health risks and higher processing costs. It hurts recycling teams, Expo staff and waste workers, and people stop trusting that recycling works.
The solution
A unit that fits onto Expo's existing three-bin stations: recycle, general and compost. It has a screen and a camera on top, and a servo-controlled hatch over each bin.
01Scan item
NIR and RGB scanning
A camera sees the item. A near-infrared spectrometer reads the material when the camera isn't sure.
02Check contamination
Contamination check
Visual cues flag food residue, oil and liquid on items headed for recycling.
03Classify
Classify item
The system classifies the item and selects the correct bin: recycle, general or compost.
Keep hatches closed
Wrong bin stays closed. Show a message explaining why.
bin?
06Log
Log disposal
Every disposal is saved with the classification, confidence and any contamination flags.
05Feedback
Live feedback
A screen and audio tell the user what happened and why.
04Open hatch
Open hatch
Only the correct hatch opens, so wrong disposal is physically blocked.
01Scan item
NIR and RGB scanning
A camera sees the item. A near-infrared spectrometer reads the material when the camera isn't sure.
02Check contamination
Contamination check
Visual cues flag food residue, oil and liquid on items headed for recycling.
03Classify
Classify item
The system classifies the item and selects the correct bin: recycle, general or compost.
04Open hatch
Open hatch
Only the correct hatch opens, so wrong disposal is physically blocked.
If the bin is wrong
Keep hatches closed
Wrong bin stays closed. Show a message explaining why.
05Feedback
Live feedback
A screen and audio tell the user what happened and why.
06Log
Log disposal
Every disposal is saved with the classification, confidence and any contamination flags.
- ↺ Next item
The prototype
We showed three things:
3D model
The unit mounted over Expo's existing bins.
Live waste detection demo
The model drew a box around a water bottle and labelled it "Clear plastic bottle" with a 0.91 confidence score.
Video render
The finished unit in use.
Cost and competition
We costed a full rollout of 190 three-bin stations in three tiers.
| Tier | Retrofit/unit | Software/unit | Maintenance/yr | Total/unit | Total (190) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | $1,800 | $150 | $50 | $2,000 | $380,000 |
| Pro | $5,250 | $250 | $50 | $5,550 | $1,054,500 |
| Premium | $7,000 | $350 | $100 | $7,450 | $1,415,500 |
Against two existing smart bins:
| Feature | TerraSort | Bin-E | Oscar Sort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated cost | $5,250 | $13,000 | $13,000 |
| Retrofits existing bins | Yes | No | No |
| Material detection | Yes | No | No |
| Contamination detection | Yes | No | No |
| Automated hatches | Yes | Yes | No |
The disposal logs also open a business model beyond selling hardware: software subscriptions, consumption insights for FMCG brands, and anonymised recycling data for governments and ESG teams.
The award
TerraSort won Packaging for Sustainability 2025 at Expo City Dubai. Expo City is now implementing the design.
What's next
The rollout plan from the pitch:
- Pilot 20 to 30 bins in office areas.
- Expand to 190 bins after the pilot.
- Use the bins' screens as digital touchpoints.
The risks we flagged were hardware wear and tear, sensor misclassification and user frustration. The pilot is where those get measured.