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IOT IN WASTE MANAGEMENT: PATENTABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY CONFLICTS

August 1, 2025

*Ms. Kondala Phani Priya

INTRODUCTION

The world is poised on the brink of an unmitigated waste management crisis with more than 2.24 billion tons of municipal solid waste being produced every year, and this figure is set to rise to 3.4 billion tons by 2050. Landfills are choked, oceans are clogged, and waste infrastructure inefficiencies worsen the environmental degradation. Step forward the Internet of Things (IoT), a technology messiah promising smarter, greener solutions. From intelligent bins that report full to artificial intelligence (AI) sorters and route-optimized waste collection routes, IoT is transforming waste management. But as these technologies go mainstream, intellectual property (IP) rights, and in particular patents, play a central role in charting their course. Patents grant inventors with exclusive rights, but main issue is whether they also stifle the way to universal adoption of sustainable waste solutions? This blog explores whether the patent system encourages or discourages the sustainability objectives in IoT-driven waste management, analyzing patentability issues, sustainability conflicts, and possible solutions.

UNDERSTANDING IOT IN WASTE MANAGEMENT

IoT waste management is networked devices, sensors, and analytics that monitor waste automatically, sort, and dispose of it. Smart waste bins like Bigbelly or Bin-e track fill their levels through sensors, enabling real-time scheduling of collection. GPS enabled trucks optimize their routes based on the data provided by these bins to reduce fuel consumption. AI-powered sorting machines like AMP Robotics maximizes recycling by accurately sorting and identifying materials. These technologies enable greater efficiency, reduced landfill dependency, and circularity through reuse of resources. IoT avoids waste mismanagement through data-enabled insight, facilitating global sustainability goals. Such technology being proprietary in nature raises issues of availability and scalability, particularly in resource-constrained areas.

PATENTABILITY OF IOT INNOVATIONS:

IoT waste management innovation includes hardware-software combinations (sensors, bins) and software-algorithms (analytics) and therefore, they are best suited for patenting. An invention must be new, possess an inventive step, and be industrially applicable if it is to be a good candidate for a patent. A new sensor design on smart bin or AI sorting algorithm for waste can be novel, possess inventive step, and be industrially applicable. However, it is not that simple as it sounds. IoT solutions are incremental, based on prior art, and are, therefore, problematic from a novelty and inventive step point of view. Convergence of hardware and software makes it even more challenging. Section 3(k) of the Indian Patent Act, 1970, in India, excludes "computer programs per se" from patent protection, which may restrict protection for software-based waste solutions. Patents are territorial, and waste management is hyper-local, and hence IP enforcement-application mismatches occur. These may kill innovation or exclude access to essential technologies.

THE SUSTAINABILITY CONFLICT:

Patents may spur innovation but deter sustainability by being barriers to adoption. Patenting costs are extremely high; in some instances, the cost reaches thousands of dollars, which can discourage small innovators or cash-strapped municipalities from adopting IoT solutions. Patent thickets, or collections of overlapping patents of the same technology, can make it even more difficult, suppressing eco-innovation with complex legal issues. License costs are also a barrier; public actors or small actors might not be able to afford paying for license costs on smart bins or AI solutions under patent, thereby suppressing green technology adoption. The challenge raises an ethical question: should environmental technologies, which are crucial to halting the waste crisis, be left in proprietary hands? The conflict between rewarding inventors and keeping necessary solutions in public access is central to this challenge, particularly in global sustainability.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS OR ALTERNATIVES:

These conflicts can be resolved by creative IP arrangements. Patent pools like WIPO GREEN enable companies to license green tech IP more cheaply, accelerating diffusion. The Eco-Patent Commons, sponsored in its early years by IBM and Nokia, granted royalty-free access to green patents, a scheme that can be revived to green IoT waste technologies. Compulsory licensing under Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement can be called on during green crises to ensure access to necessary technologies. Governments can also mandate technology transfer or encourage public-private partnerships to license IP to municipalities. These approaches balance incentives for innovation with the urgent need for green waste management technologies, particularly in developing nations.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND EMPIRICAL EXAMPLES:

Consider the case of Bigbelly, the market leader in smart waste bins. Its patents include sensor technology and data analytics, granting market lead but perhaps limiting take-up in cost-sensitive markets. In India's Smart City Mission, local governments generally face IP barriers in addressing waste issues with IoT waste solutions, with patent impediments or licensing fees limiting scalability. Alternatively, the EU's Green Deal contemplates IP reform to expand access to climate-resilient technologies, with patent-sharing models. These observations reflect the asymmetry of access to IoT waste technologies across the world. If Bigbelly's proprietary solution fuels innovation, it serves to highlight the needs for adaptive IP frameworks to provide access, particularly in developing economies where waste management needs are critical.

CONCLUSION

The convergence of IoT and waste management is highly promising in addressing the world's waste problem, but it is both a challenge and an opportunity for the patent system. Patents stimulate innovation by incentivizing inventors, but high prices, thickets, and licensing hurdles can slow the diffusion of clean technology. Patent pools, compulsory licensing, and public-private partnerships are solutions that can balance proprietary rights and public interests. Policymakers have to design frameworks that reward innovation while bringing IoT waste solutions to those communities that need them the most. In a world drowning in trash, should innovation be saved or should it be shared to thrive?

REFRENCES:

  1. United Nations Environment Programme, Global Waste Management Outlook (2015).
  2. World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO GREEN: The Marketplace for Sustainable Technology, https://www3.wipo.int/wipogreen/ (last visited Oct. 15, 2025).
  3. Eco-Patent Commons, About the Eco-Patent Commons, https://www.ibm.com/ibm/environment/eco-patent-commons (last visited Oct. 15, 2025).
  4. Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Apr. 15, 1994, Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, Annex 1C, 1869 U.N.T.S. 299, art. 31.
  5. European Patent Office, Patents for a Sustainable Future (2023).
  6. The Indian Patent Act, No. 39 of 1970, § 3(k) (India).
  7. The Indian Patent Act, No. 39 of 1970, § 84 (India).
  8. United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Green Technology Diffusion: Challenges and Opportunities (2022).
  9. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Innovation and Green Technology: The Role of Intellectual Property (2021).

Author:
* Ms. Kondala Phani Priya/em>
3rd Year, B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) Student, Alliance University, Bengaluru

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of the Alliance Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (ACIPR) and the Centre does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.