I need to measure the fill-rate of a waste container, so I'm in need of a range sensor (optical, laser, ultrasonic; method doesn't matter) that's very resilient. It's going to have to endure rainwater, (organic) waste, sticky sugary products etc. I understand that once enough stuff accumulates onto it, the signal obviously isn't going to travel through anymore. But upon testing out a few sensors (VL53L0X, JSN-SR04T, HC-SR04, SRF-01) I find there's a lot of variability in how much they can endure.
I looked at the MaxBotix TrashSonar sensors and have ordered one; I was just wondering if anyone else has been working on a similar project, and can recommend other products suitable for this that are similarly resistant?