Quality of service ensuring in urban solid waste management

In the present paper, a framework for the design and implementation of a system aiming to guarantee the quality of services for urban solid waste management is proposed. This system consists of a geo-referenced spatial database, built in the environment of a geographic information system (GIS), which includes all required parameters for waste management. These parameters involve point sources of waste collection, road network and related traffic data of the area under study, as well as the location and capacity of landfills, incinerators and recycling units. In addition dynamic data for population density, time schedule of labor workers, transportation facilities location measured by Global Positioning System (GPS), etc., are considered. Spatio-temporal analysis is implemented in order to represent the interrelations between urban growth, and consequently, increase of wastes and the collection-transport-disposal subsystems of waste management. The spatial database is accessed through a graphical user interface facilitating component entering and system operation simulation and monitoring. The user is able to input all required parameters, and to invoke a nonlinear programming model for initial cost calculation and optimization by generating alternative scenarios. The main goals of the proposed system are the calculation of total cost for transport and disposal, for a specific scenario, the identification of the most cost-effective alternative scenario and the monitoring of its application. The end-users of the aforementioned system are the regional authorities and their requirements and needs for waste management are adopted in the design and implementation of this system.