State of Digitalization in European Municipal Waste Management Comparative Study – five EU member countries Estonia, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and Spain

Abstract

The aim of this comparative study is to document the status quo in the digitalization of municipal waste management in EU countries, in order to ultimately examine in which areas the implementation of blockchain solutions makes sense. Blockchain is only a database solution that allows to trace and track transactions within a waste chain, to transfer digital assets from peer to peer and to use smart contracts for automating processes. But for a database application like the blockchain, the decisive factor is of course the automatic collection of data via Internet-of-Things devices such as sensors and cameras, and the analysis of the data via AI applications. Ultimately, this comparative study is also about the question of the digital readiness of municipal waste managers as regards the use of blockchain solutions. This comparative study is based on the description of the status quo of digitalization in municipal waste management in the five countries of the project partners: Estonia, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain. The IT solutions used are of course dependent on the organisation and processes of municipal waste management in each country. Consequently, the actual description of the use of IT in the municipalities is preceded by a chapter on the organisation of municipal waste management in the respective country. In addition, best practice examples of each country are briefly described where available. Obviously, a comparative view of only five of the 27 EU member states has limited significance. To mitigate this limitation, the results of the analysis are benchmarked with the results of other studies on this topic. However, the data and the number of studies on this topic are limited. The comparative study is part of the BlockWASTE project, which is an EU-funded Erasmus Plus project. The project aims to address the interoperability between waste management and blockchain technology and to promote its proper treatment through educational training, so that the data collected is shared within a safe environment, where there is no room for uncertainty and mistrust between all parties involved in waste chains or cycles. Further information is available from the BlockWASTE project website https://blockwasteproject. eu.