Author(s)

T. Nuortio, G. van den Dool, T. Hiltunen, V. Matikka, T. Räsänen & M. Kolehmainen

Abstract

Within a waste management company new data is accumulating in the different data management systems, but comprehensive utilisation of available data is too often neglected. New software products and systems, like driving guidance systems, are collecting additional information daily about the service areas. Extensive use of the gathered data as well as the data available in public and private domains can provide essential information for the planning and decision making of regional waste collection. In this study we explored the possibilities of refining, modelling and utilising the data stored in the operational databases of the Finnish waste management company Jätekukko Ltd. The focus of this study was especially on modelling and predicting waste formation with MLP (multi-layer perceptron) and giving an insight into future possibilities of utilising the modelled data. Keywords: solid waste management, information utilisation, data modelling, neural networks, multi-layer perceptron. 1 Introduction The changes in the Finnish waste management sector have increased the need for more comprehensive use of collected data and information systems. Information technology (IT) enables automatic data collection, data transfer and knowledge refinement, IT also enables implementing new services and technologies in waste management and provides the basic elements for network design to construct new sophisticated data management systems.

Keywords

solid waste management, information utilisation, data modelling, neural networks, multi-layer perceptron.