The ECOMAPS project: How the academy can get involved in local waste management projects

Abstract

Waste management is becoming an urgent element of sustainability where university campuses can provide a substantial contribution in: (1) offering the competence necessary to optimize waste management and (2) giving the example in how to correctly manage waste in a relatively large entity such as in a university campus. In this area, the University of Florence engaged, together with the National Consortium on the Science and Technology of Materials (INSTM), in a project: ECOMAPS financed by the Tuscan Regional Government. ECOMAPS has the aim of developing a web-based platform which is addressed to everyone but in particular to industries to optimize waste disposal. Thus, the customer, who needs to dispose of waste, will be directly connected with the appropriate facility. The novelty of ECOMAPS lies in the geolocation system which allows the users to easily find the closest facility for waste disposal. This web page will be connected to an already existent blog Ecomaps news where the user not only can get the information related to waste disposal but also the technical support. The project is at present focused on industrial waste, but it can be extended to urban waste and we plan to create a model platform for the management of on-campus waste.