# IoT-Based Solid Waste Management Solutions: A Survey
## 1 Introduction  
Waste management is a name given to a waste collection system, including its transportation, disposal or recycling. This term is attributed to waste material that is produced through a human activity which must be handled to avoid its adverse effect for health and for the environment. Most often, waste is managed to reuse available resources. Waste management methods may differ between developed countries, between an urban and a rural environment, or between an industrial and a residential area. The management of waste in metropolitan and rural areas is the general responsibility of a municipality, while waste produced by industries is their responsibility and managed by themselves. According to data released by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the share of the urban population worldwide is expected to reach 66% by 2050, compared to 52% in 2014, resulting in increased waste production in cities. Data released by the World Bank Groupconfirm that waste generation rates are growing. In 2012, cities worldwide generated about 1.3 billion tons of solid waste, representing 1.2 kilograms of waste generated per person-day. With rapid population growth occurring along with urbanization, urban waste generation is projected to rise to 2.2 billion tons by 2025, confirming that municipal solid waste (MSW), the main by-product of an urban lifestyle, is growing even faster than the rate of urbanization. This increase in municipal and industrial waste generation, together with stricter regulations aimed at ending illegal waste disposal, stimulate the growth of applications for better waste management. Other factors that have driven the growth of applications designed for the effective management of waste worldwide are directly linked to the constant use of recycling techniques, the cycle of technological innovation, the application of advanced techniques for waste collection, and the use of technologies based on IoT and big data. There is also a vision of strengthening waste management based on public initiatives aimed at building more correct and safer environments, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. According to Allied Market Research, Portland, Oregon [1], waste management worldwide is expected to grow at an annual rate of 6.2% by 2023, with greater growth in the emerging Asia Pacific region. In Europe, this sector grew by more than 30% in 2016 and growth is expected to continue to accelerate due to the presence of advanced infrastructure and the high demand of several interested sectors. Currently, there are increasing initiatives by governmental and public authorities in relation to waste management to efficiently improve the collection and intelligent disposal of waste generated by a city. These are already considering the accelerated pace of urbanization worldwide and the expansion of the industrial sector, and the manufacturing and healthcare industries that are likely to produce a significant amount of waste and can already be efficiently treated by smart management. Moreover, growth of infrastructure facilities and a rising adoption of advanced waste management systems in developing economies with the goal of using cost-effective and waste-time disposal methods should positively impact the growth of smart management of waste. The great precursor of technological development that has led to innovations in the waste management sector is undoubtedly the advance of the Internet [2]. The Internet has revolutionized the world and offers global connectivity. Similarly, the Internet of Things (IoT) [3] is also set to underpin significant change and represents an Internet evolution known as the next generation of the Internet (i.e., the Fourth Industrial Revolution). The IoT began with the increasing number of interconnected physical objects providing interactions.