Planning and implementation of a selective waste collection program: using a geographical information system to calculate the routes

Abstract With the National Policy on Solid Waste it has become mandatory to implement selective waste collection programs and that such programs should be efficient. In both implementation and improvement of the selective waste collection programs that already exist, we must consider mainly three questions: who will act as the collection agent; which selective waste collection model will be used and how to effectively plan the collection routes. One way to optimize the collection routes is using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Therefore, in this paper it has been planned and implemented a selective waste collection in São Lourenço, Minas Gerais, using a GIS to calculate the routes. Today, there are two collection routes working, allowing the whole population of the city to be served by the selective waste collection program. Furthermore, it has been noticed that the door-to-door collection mode is not the optimal in the beginning of the implementation, and the awareness from the population was the main barrier in the implementation.