Loopbin Composter: An EPS@ISEP 2025 Project

The European Project Semester (EPS) at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP) is a challenge-based learning framework in which engineering students from various majors and nationalities collaborate to solve real-world problems. EPS@ISEP projects provide a context for teams to jointly acquire and apply new knowledge and skills during the design, development, and testing of a proof-of-concept prototype. In spring 2025, the LeftLovers team tackled the challenge of creating an accessible, economical, ecological, and odourless kitchen food waste disposal solution for apartment dwellers. LeftLovers aimed to raise awareness of the benefits of composting food waste, educate about composting, convert food waste into compost, and use the compost to grow plants at home. The proposed Loopbin concept consists of a device and an application. The device has four vertically stacked bins: a small garden for direct compost use at the top, two compost bins in the middle, and a compost storage bin at the bottom. The compost bins are equipped with handles to turn the contents and pins to open the trap doors between connected bins. A smart system monitors the composting process, controls automatic ventilation, and communicates with the app, which displays the composting status and provides instructions to produce high-quality compost. This solution stands out for its accessibility, affordability, and inclusion of a vegetable garden.

Palavras-chave

Engineering Education European Project Semester Composting Homecomposting Foodwaste Fertilizer Homegardening

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/32665

Citação

Clara Díaz Martín, Emile Amant, Lianne Tibbe, Nathan Audy, Qi Xuan Tan, Simon Lünswilken, Abel J. Duarte, Benedita Malheiro, Cristina Ribeiro, Jorge Justo, Manuel F. Silva, Paulo Ferreira & Pedro Guedes (2026). Loopbin Composter – An EPS@ISEP 2025 Project. In: Auer, M.E., Toth, P. (eds) Innovation via Collaborative Learning in Engineering Education. ICL 2025. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 1848. Springer, Cham, 143–154. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-20381-6_15

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Editora

Springer Nature Switzerland

DOI

10.1007/978-3-032-20381-6_15

Coleções

ISEP – LSA – Comunicações em eventos científicos

Licença CC

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