From left: Haziq, team supervisor Abdull Sulaiman Ismil, Zulhikmah and Hastrini with the Eksa Smart Recycle Bin at Projex-19.
KOTA KINABALU: In line with the theme ‘Greenovation Towards 4th Industrial Revolution,’ Politeknik Kota Kinabalu students emerged as grand winners in the recent Students’ Innovation Projects Exhibition Competition (Projex-19), with their Eksa (Ekosistem Kondusif Sektor Awam) Smart Recycle Bin.
Inspired by the Eksa philosophy, Haziq Syahmi Dua, Zulhikmah Zulkipli and Hastrini M. Salleh invented a smart recycle bin which calculates the weight and price of recyclable items, namely plastic, aluminium and paper.
“The Eksa campaign was recently launched at our campus and so we thought it would be a good idea to ride on its relevance. We also intended to give back and contribute to the campus before we graduate from our studies,” said Zulhikmah.
She explained that the model for the smart recycle bin was created from discarded fibre from unused boats, due to its durability and easiness to shape. The round shape of the recycle bin was chosen to symbolise the Eksa logo, said Zulhikmah, adding that mathematically, a round shape has a larger volume than surface area and could therefore hold more content compared to square or triangular shapes.
“It took us three months to complete the final model, from data collection and consultation to trial and error and finally, the finished product. Our production cost amounted to approximately RM400 because we had to order each component in threes, for the three types of recyclable waste.
“The Eksa Smart Recycle Bin weighs 10kg on its own and can hold up to 15kg of waste in total, with 5kg for each recyclable material. We aimed for our product to raise awareness on the importance of waste segregation and encourage people to recycle,” Zulhikmah added.
In addition to being grand winners, Zulhikmah, Haziq and Hastrini also won in the TVET Innovation Project (Engineering) category and were first runners-up in the Best Posters Competition. The trio would go on to represent Politeknik Kota Kinabalu at the State and national levels at a later date.
At the opening ceremony of Projex-19, Minister of Education and Innovation Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob emphasised the importance of environmental conservation in the wake of industrial and technological advancement.
The environment should not be compromised in our pursuit of advancement, he said, adding that green technology could even enhance economic development of the country through the use of technology and improve the quality of life for all humans and biodiversity in general.