iSchool Capstone

Data-Driven Waste Management Solution

Project tags:

business & systems analysis

data curation

data science & visualization

Project poster

Data-Driven Waste Management Solutions with trashcan pick-up frequencies are determined primarily by empirical observation. Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) sought a data-driven solution to better estimate waste levels and thus optimize waste bin placement and service scheduling. Our team detailed shortcomings of organization data collection and infrastructure, collaborated with stakeholders to create an appropriate data collection system, and created an optimization model to minimize costs associated with each collection route. Our efforts intend to reduce SPU’s expenses, support a cleaner city, and bolster SPU’s future information management practices to allow further opportunity. 

Project participants:

Kielan Lemoine-Kowalski

MSIM

Sakshi Agrawal

MSIM

Josh Breiger

MSIM

Chen Song

MSIM