## 4 Factors to Consider for Adopting an IoT-Based Compost Automation System in Modern Cities
### Budgetary Constraints  
The budget required for IoT integration in terms of the installation and maintenance of these devices and their infrastructure should be the primary concern. Any composting facility intending to integrate IoT and related technologies into its ecosystem must intricately plan and ensure that sufficient financial resources are available for the initial integration and recurring expenses. The budget should include allocations for purchasing IoT devices such as sensors, modems, signal transmitters, and cameras, hiring skilled labor to install and maintain the IoT system, and investments for auxiliary but essential services such as data security. Moreover, operators should have enough allocations to train the existing staff on handling IoT concepts in composting and later managing it [55]. Table 2 directly compares the total costs of urban waste to compost using IoT-based composting facilities, conventional composting, and unsanitary and sanitary landfilling at the existing interest rates. Table 3 directly compares the total costs of conventional window compost  
Figure 5: An overview of the essential components of a scalable and upgradable IoT-based composting facility suitable for modern smart cities.  
ing, IoT-based automated facilities, sanitary landfilling, and unsanitary landfilling, with a 4% interest rate. The values were converted into present values of 2024 from 2019 using;  
\[F=P(1+i)^{n} \tag{5}\]  
where F and P stand for future and present values, respectively, i denotes discount rate (3%), and n denotes number of years [27].  
Prior to installation of the facility, a life cycle cost (LLC) analysis needs to be done under the following assumptions [27; 56].  
\[Total\ cost=\left(CC\times\frac{i}{\left(1+i\right)^{n}}\right)+OC-OB+EC-EB \tag{6}\]  
CC: Capital costs, including initial investment in land purchase, IoT sensors and components, power supply and backup, compost storage materials, and connectivity devices; i = interest rate; n = number of years; OC = Operational costs, including man hours, transportation, lubricants, maintenance, and utilities cost; OB = Operational benefits such as compost value; EC = Environmental costs: Environmental regulations costs (air pollution and water pollution); B = Environmental benefits, including avoided waste benefits, including carbon capture, CO\({}_{2}\) and CH\({}_{4}\) reduction. According to [57; 58], the initial cost of the installation of IoT-based computing facilities is not proportional to the size of the composting facility due to their economic scale. According to [57], the cost of composting facility installation can be expressed as C, where the construction cost is C and facility treatment capacity (considered as tday) is V.  
\[c/v=\left[(C/c_{o})(v/v_{o})\right]^{-\infty} \tag{7}\]  
Under the assumption of C = C\({}_{0}\) and V = V\({}_{0}\), the Equation (7) can be expressed as,  
\[c/c_{o}=(v/v_{o})^{(1-\infty)} \tag{8}\]  
The construction cost will not be proportional to the size of the facility due to the benefit of economies. \(\alpha\) is considered as a scale index. The Equation (7) depicts the compost facility construction cost as being proportional to (1 \(-\)\(\alpha\))th power of compost facility capacity. If \(\alpha\) = 0, C is proportional to V.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Waste to Compost** & **Waste to Compost** & **Sanitary** & **Unsanitary** & \\
**Interest Rates** & **Cost in** & **Cost in IoT-Based** & **Landfilling Cost** & **Landfilling Cost** & **Reference** \\  & **Conventional** & **Actimulated Facility** & **(USD)** & **(USD)** & **(USD)** & **(USD)** \\ \hline
2.0\% & 18,380,445 & 611,897 & 37,213,806 & 45,068,340 & \\
6.0\% & 20,385,218 & 1,136,695 & 52,206,428 & 60,061,558 & [57; 58] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: A direct comparison of total cost of waste to compost using IoT-based automation, conventional composting, sanitary landfill, and unsanitary landfill for usual 2% and 6% interest rates.