Application of artificial intelligence techniques in municipal solid waste management: a systematic literature review

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management has become a highly challenging issue for many countries at different levels of development since the growth of population and urbanisation has resulted in a large increase in MSW generation. It is difficult to forecast the solid waste generated and its characteristics due to the non-linear nature of the MSW system, hence the importance of introducing artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and machine learning (ML) methods. This paper discusses a systematic literature review (SLR) on the application of AI techniques in MSW management, including waste generation prediction, waste collection and transportation and waste treatment and final disposal. The study reviewed and analysed the research studies published between 2000 and 2021, and investigated the current challenges faced by researchers in implementing AI approaches in the MSW system. It was concluded that artificial neural networks are the most used approach in various MSW-related problems. However, the lack and reliability of data are limiting the advancement of AI techniques in this field. Additionally, most studies claimed that their results are accurate and can be implemented in real-life scenarios, with an absence of a clear baseline to assess the performance of the adopted approaches. The detailed gaps and future suggestions for AI techniques in MSW systems are also discussed for further research.