Students win patent for trash sorting bin

A group of Shanghai undergraduates have secured a patent for their invention of an automatic garbage sorting bin which may soon appear in public places.

The students of Shanghai University of Engineering Science were inspired by the electromagnetism theory that different materials have different permittivity and came up with an idea to create a mechanism that can tell the difference in permittivity.

In addition, they installed solar batteries on the automatic garbage sorting bin to make it energy-saving.

"Shanghai has been promoting garbage sorting for years but most people lack motivation," said Zhao Zhenfeng, leader of the research group.

"Environment authorities don't need to worry any more once our garbage sorting bins are widely introduced," he told Xinmin Evening News.

The team plans to promote their invention to residential communities, parks and shopping malls. "It's very practical and it is not empty talk," their instructor, Zhang Chunyan, said.