Ecogestus indicates that managing municipal solid waste requires large amounts of energy. Usually the collection and transport is done by heavy vehicles that consume diesel. Therefore, solid waste management has tremendous impact on the environment, by releasing particles (PM10); depleting non-renewable sources of energy and adding to CO₂ emissions. Some municipalities and waste management systems have already converted the collection fleet to other sources of fuel such as compressed natural gas or electricity. Reducing energy consumption and delivering more tonnes of waste collected per km also depends on 'greening the logistics' by optimizing tour planning, improving operators€ awareness and implementing 'ecological driving'. Objectives

• Benchmarking solutions and practices concerning municipal waste management and the efficient use of energy.
• Promote knowledge among decision makers about the use of more environmentally friendly fuels and source diversification
• Create reference scenarios on energy efficiency and environmental impact (air quality, CO₂, noise)
• Understand and collect evidence on non-technological barriers to the introduction of best practices and other sources of fuel in the waste collection field.

Deliverables

• The use of tour planning and telemetric, and determining how much energy can be saved by implementing such tools
• Review the state-of-the-art €Energy efficiency and municipal waste management€
• Knowledge transfer: the use of the more efficient forms of managing municipal waste in terms of energy efficiency and source diversification

Keywords: waste management, energy, fuels, vehicles, environment

Contact: Joao Miguel Vaz - joao.vaz@ecogestus.com