Improve municipal waste management through citizen action
Studying Databases
Exploratory Research

Swachh Bharat Mission

a) Project carriers:
Indian Government

b) Beneficiaries:
Around 4000 urban areas in India

c) Users
  • Citizens encouraged to report waste related issues
  • Municipalities and government entities gathering data
d) The Need:
The vast Indian population growth and change in lifestyle and habits leading to increased waste generation

e) Principle:
Improving solid waste management practices to leverage modern technologies.

f) Main Technologies Involved:

  1. Integrated command
  2. operations centre Workforce
  3. Resource Management
  4. Energy simulation (waste to energy)
  5. Pollution sensors
  6. Automated waste collection system
  7. Crowd-sourcing
  8. Data Analytics
  9. Online platforms
g) Sources
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A Smart Waste Management Solution Geared towards Citizens

a) Project carriers:
FCT is the Portuguese national funding agency for science

b) Beneficiaries:
Local authorities, private waste management firms and contractors and the individual citizen

c) Users
Local authorities, private waste management firms and contractors and the individual citizens d) The Need:
A better and more efficient public waste management system and a great investment opportunity

e) Principle:
Involving the citizen in the solution, introducing cutting edge technology based on IoT.

f) Main Technologies Involved:

  1. Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies
  2. sensors and actuators
  3. wireless mobile communication technologies
  4. embedded systems and cloud computing technologies
g) Sources
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RECICLOS

a) Project carriers:
enisa Gibovic and Andrea Bikfalvi from Campus de Montilivi, Department of Business Administration and Product Design, University of Girona, 17071 Girona, Spain

b) Beneficiaries:
Citizens of the county of Pla de l’Estany, Catalonia, Spanish and European environment from the increase use of plastic based products

c) Users
Citizens of the sample group targeted by the project

d) The Need:
  • Changing daily human behaviour and tailor it to a more sustainable and environmentally cautious one.
  • Spreading awareness about the importance of tackling this topic individually and collectively.
e) Principle:
Starting small to generate a snowball effect on socially and environmentally responsible behaviour when it comes to such an impactful issue as plastic pollution

f) Main Technologies Involved:

  1. virtual reward token
  2. webapp prototype to register the recycled plastic
g) Sources
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DIGITAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEM USING MOBILE APPLICATION IN THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY OF NIGERIA

a) Project carriers:
MARTINS ADEDOKUN

b) Beneficiaries:
Nigerian unemployed community and the general public and the government

c) Users
  • Government
  • private sectors
  • partners
  • citizens
d) The Need:
Adopt a an effective and sustainable waste management system in Nigeria

e) Principle:
Strengthening accountability for the city’s waste management services and optimizing customer relations.

f) Main Technologies Involved:

MOPA is an inclusive smart-city platform that stores, analyses and distributes reports submitted by residents through USSD, SMS, a free mobile app and an accompanying website g) Sources
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Deepening

Reciclos
a) Carriers and actors of the project:
Enisa Gibovic and Andrea Bikfalvi from Campus de Montilivi, Department of Business Administration and Product Design, University of Girona, 17071 Girona, Spain

b) Research question:
How high could the projected response rate be within Catalan Citizens to participate in a digital campaign aiming to promote the transition to a the circular economy?


c) The reason you selected this project:

The reason why I chose this project branches into many aspects:
  1. The location of the project's implementation isn't just a coincidence. Europe is one of the regions which is in great need to adopt top tier technologies to best manages a sensitive topic such as municipal waste management. The advantage is that european countries and especially Spain,including Catalonia, have the means and technology to tackle this topic and are willing to invist greatly for a long term return on investment.
  2. This project has already implemented a digital strategy involving citizens in the project's success and it as it turns out, this outstanding effort combined with the right tools resulted in a high percentage of citizen engagment which is the a big part of my project's goal.
  3. This campaign and digital initiative has incredibly high potential to skyrocket its deliverables and success stories by implementing a state of art database management system that might take this project to a whole new level and lay even end up to go international.

User Scenario
Users are a cobination of:
  • local authorities handling municipal waste management
  • tourists enjoying their trips
  • citizens wanting to make their resident environment a better place
  • consulting firms willing to invest in this digital initiative
Persona:
  1. First name: George Hardy
  2. Age: 35
  3. Activity / Profession: Lawyer
  4. Place of residence, country, environment (city, countryside, etc.): Barcelona
  5. Family status:Married
  6. Income: 60 K per year
  7. List of hobbies and passions: Surfing, Cooking, Biking
  8. List of needs, desires, dreams: Tour Europe in one month,skydive in Dubai, have 3 kids before 40
  9. List of problems and frustrations: Frustrated when he sees currupt people and organizations not caring about the environment's well being and especially when it directly affects global warming
  10. Major issue related to the subject:He is a normal citizen having a full time job that aims to be part of a movement or project that focusses on the importance of 'No matter the number or effect that people have on some other issues or even other people, every single one could make a big difference.'
Key features:
  • take out the trash
  • find the right garbage bin
UX storyboard

Technical Analysis

1. General principle:
The project basically works by monitoring smart bins' cappacities through digital censors that are linked to a mobile app accessible for citizens and more generally to every user involved in the project. This data collection and digitization of the concept of waste littering, collection and sorting is what makes it much more efficient with respect to time and resources.

2. Technical overview:

3. Added value thanks to databases:
What databases can most centainly add to this ongoing project is giving it the power of incorporating huge ammounts of data so that it could not be limitted whenever there is an opportunity for expantion. Database Management systems helps greatly in effectively managing the data extracted from the digital platform especially when it comes to misread and redundant data which most of the times lead to project delay or even failure.