Final Project

 

 Kevin Pecherksy

Department of English, City College

English 21007 Writing for Engineering

Professor Von Uhl

                   May 13, 2020

 

Summary: The self- cleaning sidewalk (S.C.S.W) would dispose of garbage and litter on its own without a busy New Yorker having to think twice. Using features such as pressure sensors and conveyor belts garbage is easily transported underground directly to the New York City Sanitation Department. It is a requirement for early testing that the locations of the Self-Cleaning Sidewalk should be near the Sanitation Department. Places like Tribeca, Lower Manhattan and SoHo would be ideal for this program because of their proximity to the Sanitation Department. The City of New York has granted $2.2 million per neighbourhood and the estimated cost for each neighbourhood is $1.945. This program is able to stay under budget with some leftover room for repairs. 

 

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction.
2. Parts & Functions
3. Cost Estimates
4. Conclusion
5. Sources

 

Introduction:

NYC might be highly regarded as the “City that Never Sleeps”, yet litter and pollution enshroud the Big Apple. Trash cans are commonly seen as overflowing, waste is scattered on the floor, and the Sanitation Department consistently has their hands full. In order to mitigate the damage to the environment, the S.C.S.W has been developed with these conditions in mind. Cost estimates were found using base supply costs from online vendors (such as Bastian Solutions). In order to reduce costs further, there was found to be a  new steel alloy developed by South Korea that is expected to replace the current steel alloy within the next couple of years.

 Cost Estimates are expected to fall within the 1.945- 2.2 million dollar range. This is due to the uncertainty of labor costs and time completion. With a labor force of 30 people, the expectation is that a neighborhood can see a complete renovation within a span of 3 months. Trash cans become less viable for city streets, while residential areas are still expected to necessitate the sanitation department’s assistance in terms of waste pickup. New jobs will be created as a result, a necessity considering the pandemic that is causing unemployment for a majority of NYC residents. Trash reduction should decrease substantially, while still being unable to account for waste that does not fall on the pressure-plated-sidewalks.

 

Parts & Functions–

Fulcrum- The sensors upon measuring the mass of whatever is on the pressure plate (sidewalk) activates when scanning for trash. It tips the steel alloy sidewalk to the side, allowing all trash to fall onto the conveyor belt.

 

Support beam- The support beam keeps the sidewalk top from imploding and is in the middle to maximize stabilization.

 

Conveyor belt- Any waste is carried off on the underground conveyor belt to the sanitation department (which the conveyor belt leads to)

 

Steel alloy- In order to maintain cost efficiency, a steel alloy that was discovered by South Korea is used. It is reportedly “cheap as dirt” , according to NBC (2018).

 

Pressure sensor- Is used to measure weight and communicate to other plates nearby. For example, if a person is found to be on a pressure plate that is 12 feet away, it will activate and communicate to the fulcrum to tip the pressure plate. 6 pressure sensors are used per sidewalk.

 

Pressure plate- the steel alloy plate which will be used as the sidewalk alternative. It is 2 inches thick and five by five feet in length and width. The five feed width was found by the guidelines of the FWHA (n.d).

 

Budget and Cost Estimates:

Budget- by grant of NYC-> $2.2 million per neighborhood- 6 neighborhoods test run- total budget- $13.2 million

Cost Estimate-

Pressure Sensor cost- $60 per sidewalk

Steel alloy- $.02/ lb according to Rockaway Recycling (2020)- approximately $3 per sidewalk.

Fulcrum- approximately $5 per sidewalk

Conveyor Belt- $155 per foot according to Bastian Solutions (n.d) – approximately $775 per sidewalk

Support beam- Approximately $20 per sidewalk

Total Cost per sidewalk-  $863

Approximate cost per neighborhood (20 blocks)- 20 sidewalks per block- 20*20* 863= $345,200

Labor Cost- $15/ hr with a  labor force of 30 people and an approximate 3 months of work= 40* 15* 30 * 90= $1.62 million

Total Cost per neighborhood- $1.945 million

 

Conclusion:

The Self-Cleaning Sidewalk is the perfect solution for a big city such as New York City, full of busy business workers that do not have the time to look for a trash can when they are on-the-go. In many cases said trash cans are jam packed with garbage, to solve this issue the S.C.S.W would dispose of garbage by itself. Everyone hates litter and no one wants to be that person that throws trash on the ground without thinking of the environment. This program will make it possible to solve both of those concerns. The conveyor belt efficiently transports the litter underground to the Sanitation Department. Once the litter is thrown on the ground the pressure sensors make sure that there is not anything around like a person or a pet to safely remove the litter. This program is cost efficient and is predicted to be favored by big city residents.

 

 

Sources:

Bastian Solutions (n.d) Project Planning: How Much Does Conveyor Cost?| Bastian Solutions Retrieved May 13, 2020

https://www.bastiansolutions.com/blog/project-planning-how-much-does-conveyor-cost/

 

FWHA (n.d). Walkways, Sidewalks and Public places.  Retrieved May 13, 2020 https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/univcourse/pdf/swless13.pdf

 

NBC (February 5, 2018). Strong as Titanium, Cheap as Dirt: New Steel Alloy Shines. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/strong-titanium-cheap-dirt-new-steel-alloy-shines-n301226

 

RockawayRecycling (May 13, 2020), Steel- Current Price. Retrieved May 13,2020 https://rockawayrecycling.com/metal/steel/ 

Self-Reflection

The genre of my final project falls in the nonfiction category, with the purpose of persuading the reader to agree with the vision. Seeing how dirty NYC is,  it sparked my interest. I live in an area where people are incessantly disposing their trash on the ground, rather than in the trash cans that are usually only a few meters away. This caused me to have gripes with the ignorance of those people. Therefore, I was able to target a problem I had personal issues with. 

The purpose of this assignment was to present a possible solution with the issue that we had chosen. Being that the trash is on the floor, that was where I had my epiphany. The epiphany was that if people won’t change their actions, we can circumvent that by dealing with it directly. This makes it easier for the sanitation department to keep our streets clean. Cleaner streets means a healthier environment. With all the pollution and litter that encompasses our city, the solution had to be one that effected change.

The audience is the public. Should the public read this proposal, there could be a possibility that the government could look into it, and ultimately we could see a healthier state of living. The people need to be notified of this crisis; one that has plagued this city for years. With this in mind, the motivation for the invention was increased to a point where it was  genuinely fun to write this assignment.