A Decision Support System for Sustainable Waste Collection

This paper presents a decision support system DSS for making the waste collection process more sustainable. Currently, waste collection schedules and routes are created manually in most waste management organizations. This is both very time consuming and likely to result in poor solutions, as the task is extremely difficult due to the large number of bins combined with the many parameters to be considered simultaneously. With a sophisticated DSS, it becomes possible to address the complexities of optimal waste collection and improve sustainability-not least from the environmental perspective. The DSS proposed here is designed to be used on the operational level in the waste management organization and supports daily operations and activities. System evaluation indicates that it can reduce truck operating time by approximately 25%, corresponding to a saving of approximately 21,300 kg of carbon dioxide and 187 kg of nitrogen oxides per year and truck.

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