This Invention Lets You Trade Trash for Free Wi-Fi at Music Festivals

Two entrepreneurs in India may finally get festivalgoers to stop throwing trash on the ground and start putting it where it belongs: the trashcan. Pratik Agarwal and Raj Desai, the co-founders of tech-startup ThinkScream, have developed a waste bin that doubles as a Wi-Fi hotspot—but only if you drop off some garbage first.

The "Wi-Fi Bin" works buy flashing an access code on a mounted LED screen after something has been deposited inside. The code can then be used as a time-limited Wi-Fi login with a range of up to 50 metres around the bin.

Speaking to CNN, the creators explain that they came up with the idea while attending a music festival in Bangalore in 2013. Their experience was marred by two things: the amount of garbage littered around the grounds, and the difficulty of finding one another when they became separated. "Pratik and I got lost and it took us two hours to find each other," says Desai. "It struck us that we needed to come up with a solution for people to stay connected at these events."

Right now the bins, which cost about $1,500 a piece, have yet to be rolled out en masse, but the duo says that they have received inquiries from both private companies and government agencies.

Gigen Mammoser is on Twitter.