A circular workflow based on Earth Observation tools for the detection and characterization of illegal waste dumping sites in a waste to energy framework and policy assessment

The main illegal Solid Waste Management (SWM) issues concern their detection and their consequent disposal/reuse/recycle, both at the municipal, provincial, and regional scales. Nowadays, an important aspect is that even developed countries show difficulties with the management of illegal wastes and decision-making processes in the field are not enough developed by policymakers. This contribution aims to reduce the environmental pressure caused by the illegal disposal of solid waste through the development of a circular model which includes different approaches. A multiparametric downscaling analysis integrating satellite (Worldview-2), Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) was applied first. From satellite images waste sites were first extracted by supervised techniques, while UAV and ground data were used for their characterization by means of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. Furthermore, a volume’s frequencies map is obtained by using geospatial information, estimating the volume of garbage for each sampling site. Air quality sensors mounted on UGV were used to monitor each sample site to reveal environmental criticalities. Considering such kind of outputs, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was setup to evaluate some waste to energy solutions. A cost analysis was finally performed by including information regarding the transport of waste to the nearest municipal collectors and, subsequently, to the assigned regional recovery plants. For this reason, a spatial model concerning the shortest paths, considering route network and local environmental variables, was made by using R scripts, QGIS geoinformation system, and Dijkstra’s algorithm. Finally, thematic maps and statistics were obtained with the aim of developing methodologies to solve social-political problematics as SWM issues. The project is focused on three municipalities in Calabria (Italy, Province of Catanzaro), within the INTESA project - INtegrazione di sistemi di TElerilevamento e Sensoristica per l’individuazione di accumulo di materiali in Abbandono " - promoted by the National Research Council - Institute for Atmospheric Pollution (CNR-IIA) and funded by POR Calabria FESR FSE 2014/2020 of the Calabria Region (LIVING LABS). Thus, all these information will be fundamental for the development of a regional Decision Support System (DSS) about SWM issues.