The solution includes the Logspin Smart Battery Collection Station and the Logspin Battery Collection Application, which utilizes Computer Vision, Microcontroller, React Native, NestJs technologies, and the SCA route optimization algorithm.

With the rapid development of science and technology worldwide, the widespread consumption of electronic devices has led to a significant increase in the amount of used batteries discarded into the environment, becoming a global economic and environmental concern.

According to the study "Environmental impact of emerging contaminants from battery waste: A mini-review" (2021) published in the journal ScienceDirect, author Elda M. Melchor-Martínez and colleagues pointed out that battery waste disposal had a compound annual growth rate of up to 8% in 2018 and was projected to reach 18-30% by 2030.

According to the National Environmental Status Report 2016-2020 published by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2021), the amount of household solid waste, including batteries, continues to increase nationwide.

Urban household solid waste increases by an average of 10–16% per year. Only about 15% of them are recycled or reused. The rest are buried in landfills, discharged into water sources, or incinerated.

Faced with this reality, the current process of collecting batteries from household waste and sorting them still has many loopholes. Most used batteries are directly thrown into the trash and transported along with general waste to landfills.

Through the corrosion process, heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Ni, Cad, Hg, and Li) and chemicals from the batteries will leak and gradually seep into the soil and groundwater and have a very negative impact on people's health.

In addition, if not retained and reused, some precious and rare metals, such as lithium and cobalt, will gradually be lost to the environment, causing waste and increasing the demand for new exploitation of limited natural resources.

The reasons leading to the above situation can be attributed to: the lack of motivation and awareness among people to sort batteries from general waste; fragmented and short-term collection programs; and limited sorting of batteries from the source for proper processing.

To address these root causes and follow the guidance of the government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP on actively increasing the efficiency of collecting and treating solid waste in general and used batteries in particular from the community, the participating group proposes the Logspin Smart Battery Collection and Application solution, consisting of two main parts: the Logspin Smart Battery Collection and Sorting Station and the Logspin Battery Collection Application.

Specifically, the Logspin Smart Battery Collection Station applies computer vision, optimization algorithms, microcontrollers, and IoT technologies.

The team's system, leveraging the YOLOv8 neural network model, can detect battery objects and classify their brands based on packaging. Subsequently, by mapping the identified brands to a dictionary of brand-to-component compositions, the system can determine the battery's composition.

The station will open the battery compartment by receiving a control signal from the microcontroller after receiving a login signal on the Logspin application.

Automatically classify received batteries into separate containers by actuator mechanisms (conveyor belt, piston) under microcontroller control.

Store and preserve batteries for a long time, ensuring quality and safety until the batteries are recycled (illustrative image of the Logspin Smart Battery Collection Station).

The Logspin Battery Collection Application is designed to promote battery recycling and environmental protection by engaging two main user groups: battery donors and battery collectors.

Battery donors

These are individuals or households who wish to contribute to environmental protection by recycling used batteries. Through the Logspin app, users can easily locate nearby battery stations, track their points earned from recycling batteries, and redeem these points for vouchers.

The app also educates users about the positive impact of battery recycling, encouraging them to participate more actively in the recycling process and environmental conservation.

Battery collectors

These are individuals or organizations responsible for collecting batteries from recycling stations.

Using the Logspin app, battery collectors can monitor the status of each station, including the number of batteries ready for collection, the fill level of the stations, and the station's activity history.

More importantly, the app utilizes a SCA (sine cosine algorithm) to calculate and recommend the most optimal routes for collectors, making the collection process more efficient and cost-effective.

By optimizing travel routes between stations, the algorithm helps collectors save time, effort, and fuel, ensuring that the battery collection process is both fast and economical (Logspin application interface: battery donor on the left; battery collector on the right).

When the customer scans the code, the application will log in to the customer's account and send a ready signal to the microcontroller to unlock the station.

When the battery is inserted, each battery is passed through the Computer Vision recognition system. Based on the recognition data from Computer Vision, the microcontroller will control the conveyor system and piston to push the battery to the desired compartment.

When the containers are full, the sensor system will signal the microcontroller, which in turn reports to the Logspin application for the collection unit to pick up (the process of deploying the collection and classification solution).

The project aims to contribute to the following after successful implementation and application.

First, enhance public awareness of waste sorting and create a habit among people of sorting batteries separately from household waste, bringing them to collection stations through point accumulation and redemption activities on the Logspin application.

Second, facilitate separate sorting of battery waste at the beginning. This helps reduce the cost of treating heavy metal pollution in soil and water, retain precious metals like lithium and cobalt from batteries, and conserve natural resources.

Third, reduce the cost of sorting batteries before they are introduced into the separate processing processes of factories; reduce transportation costs on battery collection routes.

Fourth, through fixed, long-term collection points and statistical data, create a large and stable source of used batteries to motivate the processing and recycling of household batteries in Vietnam.

And finally, aim towards green economic development and a circular economy in energy issues.

Logspin