Finbin develops waste bins with maintenance-free igus plain bearings – the application deadline for the 11th manus award expires on 10th February 2023

A clean cityscape is what many large cities around the world long for. To bring that dream a little closer, Finbin, a Finnish company, has developed an intelligent rubbish bin. It features a solar-powered press that increases the amount of rubbish it can absorb by a factor of six. The lubrication-free igus plain bearings in use ensure a long service life of the bin. This project won the green manus award in 2021.

Pizza boxes, coffee mugs and beverage tins. For years, cities all over Europe have been fighting against this deluge of waste. Conventional waste bins are increasingly reaching their limits. The Finnish company’s answer is the CitySolar waste bin, which compresses waste, increasing the bin’s capacity by a factor of six. The waste bin is connected to the internet and requests emptying before it reaches its maximum capacity. To increase the new waste bin type’s sustainability, the engineers use components that require no maintenance. Therefore, lubrication-free and maintenance-free igus iglidur G and iglidur M250 plastic plain bearings are used for the mechanics of the press and foot lever. Conventional metal bearings were out of the question because high humidity and lubrication pose a problem in everyday operation. iglidur plain bearings, however, are not sensitive to moisture, dust or dirt. A test in igus’s 3,800-square-metre in-house laboratory proves how wear-resistant the bearings are. In the test, the plain bearings were pivoted on a gas-nitrified St52 steel shaft with a load of 30Mpa at a speed of 0.01 metres per second. The iglidur G plain bearings showed virtually no signs of wear even after 200,000 cycles. This makes them ideal for reliable, maintenance-free use in all weathers over many years.
 

In 2023, the manus award will once again honour sustainable projects

Finbin’s CitySolar waste bin was honoured with the 2021 green manus as a forward-looking, sustainable project. Every two years, the international competition awards innovative plastic-bearing projects the gold, silver, bronze and green manus. This year, igus is looking for unique applications once again. Four participants can win up to €5,000. The application deadline is 10th February 2023, and entries can be submitted online in just a few minutes at www.igus.eu/manus.