SIMODEM - Simulate the mobility of household waste (2018)
Scientific coordinator: Florence Toilier (LAET)
Disciplines: Spatial and Urban Planning – Energy, Process Engineering – Environmental Science
Laboratories: LAET – EVS – DEEP
Partners: SUEZ – Lyon Métropole
Summary:
The SIMODEM research project aims to enrich our understanding of factors affecting mobility associated with household waste in the urban environment and propose a model. The aim is to estimate all the environmental impacts associated with the management of the various types of household waste, from production to collection, recycling and disposal of the end waste. This work will make it possible to simulate and compare the management of waste in various urban contexts and under various forms of socio-technical organisation. The planned approach is based on an analysis of various factors affecting mobility in connection with household waste:
- household practices in terms of production, separation and recycling;
- choices of management services (storage, sorting transport, etc.);
- clarification of the underlying environmental issues.
It is based on a Life-Cycle Analysis type environmental approach, enriched by a survey conducted with facilities partnering the project, to estimate the environmental impact associated with waste processing after collection.
This research project draws on extensive literature linked to waste management: its governance, its scale in terms of flow and its operational and logistical characteristics. It will be completed by quantitative surveys to calibrate a flow simulation model. Surveys will be conducted with waste producers (households within a conurbation) and operators providing transport and logistics. The resulting model will make it possible to compare simulations of spatial planning and mobility management policies by means of economic and environmental indicators. This modelling and simulation approach will make it possible to estimate the various waste flows generated by the area under study as well as their recycling and disposal systems. This will be able to serve as a basis for an environmental assessment based on a life-cycle analysis enriched with field surveys, which will make it possible to represent the various environmental effects associated with the transport of waste and its recycling and disposal channels. Ultimately, this modelling approach will make it possible to produce a simulation tool for research and help local authorities and specialised companies make decisions with regards to waste management.
