Minimizing Carbon-Footprint of Municipal Waste Separate Collection Systems

Environmental performance of municipal waste management systems plays a key role in the so called smart cities performance. The authors propose a reference framework for public decision-making in optimizing municipal waste separate collection systems. A Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) model is built up to set the collecting system and the optimal level of collection of each fraction. The goal is to minimize carbon footprint of the whole collection system. The model is applied to a full-scale case study. Results obtained stress out the effectiveness of the model. Moreover the Environmental Efficiency Effort index is introduced to test the model solution evaluating the attitude of citizens in participating and improving waste separate collection.