Build a Python GUI to Learn and Test Household Waste Classification

Since Shanghai launched mandatory waste‑sorting in July 2019, the author built a Python program to help users learn the classification rules by interactively sorting garbage.

Data Acquisition

The city classifies waste into four categories—recyclable, hazardous, wet, and dry. A public dataset on Gitee provides five categories (including large items) with counts for each type, as shown in the image below.

Learning Tool Design

The tool consists of a learning module and a testing module, allowing users to study waste categories and then evaluate their knowledge.

Data Processing

Data is loaded with pandas:

import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv('garbage.csv')

Filtering by class is done with expressions such as df[df["class"] == 2] to obtain lists of items for each category.

Learning Module

The GUI uses Tkinter. A tk.Frame hosts the main layout, tk.Label shows textual explanations, and tk.Canvas displays icons after resizing. An OptionMenu enumerates waste items, and a ScrolledText widget presents detailed descriptions.

Classification Display

When a user selects an item, a callback garbage_process updates the ScrolledText with the appropriate information. The text widget is placed on a separate canvas to avoid layout shifts.

Testing Module

The test mirrors the learning UI but adds Radiobutton widgets for users to choose the correct category. After selection, the ceshi_process function compares the answer with the dataset and provides encouragement or correction.

The author spent a weekend developing the tool, recording a video tutorial for future reference, and encourages readers to join the waste‑sorting effort.