A decision support tool for calculating waste collection needs

We introduce a case study of a sustainability driven project involving a utility company based in Arizona. The company operates out of 22 facilities, which produce municipal solid waste hauled regularly by a waste hauling company. To increase the utilization of waste bins, we followed conceptually the Six Sigma DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control) methodology. A field experiment was designed to measure the utilization of waste bins across four facilities, from which potential cost savings were identified. From these measurements, we created a decision support tool that provides detailed analyses on the utilization of waste bins and what-if analyses for experimenting with different bin configurations in terms of bin sizes, total number of bins, and pick-up schedules. The decision support tool has been able to detect potential annual savings close to 50% of current annual costs by increasing utilization across four facilities, and it could lead to higher savings when it is implemented to other facilities. Moreover, by reducing the number of waste hauler pick-ups, the tool would potentially lead to reductions in GHG emissions.