Overview
Waste recycling has recently been highlighted as a priority industry in Luxembourg. In this context, LIST has partnered with Polygone to propose a new approach positioned in the smart waste collection market, which for several years has been looking for mechanisms to automatically adapt collection routes to changing needs and constraints, rather than relying on fixed schedules.
SWAM aims to propose and validate a novel smart waste collection platform relying on multi-objective optimisation processes, in order to combine business, customer, and operational criteria – including data generated by new fill-level sensor technologies integrated into waste bins. This approach, a first in Luxembourg, not only opens the way for new services for Polygone's waste recycling business segment, but also addresses a variety of R&D topics, including data collection, prediction and constrained multi-objective optimisation on technological platforms.
Research hypotheses will be validated in real-life scenarios with Polygone's professional customers (as opposed to private individuals, who are in most cases the target of existing solutions), paving the way for the implementation of new business models and market opportunities.
Explore IoT and optimisation techniques to improve waste collection systems. The methodology adopted by the project consists of three complementary activities:
- Propose a real-time data collection and analysis system, using heterogeneous data sources and waste bin fill-level sensors.
- Propose new multi-objective optimisation models to improve operational business activities.
- Generate personalised, real-time and predictive recommendations through a web interface (for the dispatcher), and a mobile app (for the drivers).
Funding
Results
Scientific work on IoT, data analytics and multi-objective optimization techniques will be published by LIST in international journals and conferences.
At the end of the project, a prototype of a business intelligence platform for the waste recycling industry will be developed. This prototype will pave the way for the implementation of new business models to fulfil the service and new opportunities for the market, first and foremost for Polygone. Thanks to its participation in the project, the company will be able to develop new services for waste management, and even implement, at the heart of its activities, new business models and commercial outlets.