SWAM: A Novel Smart Waste Management Approach for Businesses using IoT

The waste recycling industry has grown considerably in the recent years and many solutions have become democratized around smart waste collection. However, existing decision support systems generally rely on a limited flow of information and offer an often static or statistically based approach, focusing on specific use-cases (e.g., individuals, municipalities). This paper introduces SWAM, a new smart waste collection platform currently being elaborated in Luxembourg that targets businesses and large entities (e.g., restaurants, shopping centers). SWAM aims to consider multiple sources of combined information in its decision-making process and go further in the routing optimization process. The platform notably uses ultrasonic sensors to measure the filling level of containers, and smartphones with embedded intelligence to understand a driver's actions. This paper presents our experience on the development and deployment of this platform in Luxembourg, as well as the relevant options on the choice of sensing and communication technologies available in the market. It also presents the system architecture and two fundamental components. Firstly, a data management layer, which implements models for analyzing and predicting the filling patterns of the containers. Secondly, a multi-objective optimization layer, which compiles the collection routes that minimize the impact on the environment and maximize the service quality. This paper is intended to serve as a practical reference for the deployment of waste management systems, which have many technological components and can greatly fluctuate depending on the use cases to be covered.