Modelling Key Performance Indicators in a Gamified Waste Management Tool

Abstract

Broader understanding of waste management has the potential to bring about broad societal change impacting the climate crisis and public health. We present existing waste management tools and commercially-available games involving waste management, highlighting the strengths and opportunities left unaddressed by these tools in educational contexts and planning use cases. A survey motivates the need for enhanced interactive tools providing clear feedback through quick-visibility performance indicators. After identifying an opportunity to build upon highly-detailed multi-criteria simulation tools, we explore the need for easy-to-read performance metrics that will bring to the field of waste management easily identifiable and measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) that vary alongside factors affecting waste management policies. Such metrics are introduced and detailed as part of a unified waste management model. We then develop a representative gamified educational tool based upon this model to be used by students, decision makers planning real-world policies, and the public. This simulator is built upon the Unity Game Engine and emulates waste management techniques and resulting KPIs within the context of a virtual city.