ABSTRACT
Intermunicipal Waste Management of Greater Porto (LIPOR) is an intermunicipal waste management service that manages, recovers, and treats the municipal waste produced in eight municipalities in the Greater Porto area in the north of Portugal. Over 6 years LIPOR developed a digital platform for monitoring the entire waste collection operation in its ecosystem. This platform enables managing collection points, routes (planning and execution), equipment (individual containers and curbside bins), and consumables (bags and radio frequency identification tags), creating a wide range of statistical output. Taking as a case study the municipality of Póvoa de Varzim, this work analyses how digitalization of the waste collection operation enabled several improvements, namely communication with citizens to promote their participation in the collection system and educating the citizens to minimize contamination. The approach implemented by LIPOR and its 8 associated municipalities paves the way to upcoming legislative changes such as pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) tariffs.
