The future of waste collection in Amsterdam

Abstract

Heavy traffic in the city of Amsterdam has damaged the 17th-century bridges and quays over the past years. To prevent further damage and expand the lifespan of both existing and renovated structures, a maximum axle load of 7,5 tonnes is mandated in the city centre. Currently, the municipal waste collection department has a permanent exemption from this regulation due to the absence of an alternative method to collect the city's waste.

One promising solution involves re-utilising the city's waterways and employing vessels to transport waste out of the city. Two pilots involving water-based waste transport have been conducted in the city and were found to be a working proof of concept. It is, however, not known what a water-based collection system for the whole centre should look like to service the city and preserve the quays and bridges. This thesis aims to assess the trade-offs between three conceptual water-based waste collection systems (WCSs) to guide the direction for designing a suitable WCS for the city.

The three concepts examined concepts differ in the scale of the transshipment locations (the point where waste is transferred from land to water), categorised as WCSs with small- medium- and large-scale transshipment locations. The study focuses on the trade-offs between WCSs within and between the domains of social acceptance and technical feasibility.

This thesis consists of two main parts, in the first part the three water-based conceptual WCSs were defined using a design workshop. During the workshop, six employees of the municipality used different exercises to generate ideas on how waste could be collected using the waterways and to turn these ideas into conceptual designs.

In the second part of this thesis, these three conceptual WCSs were studied using a case study. The units of analysis in each of the WCSs were the social acceptance and the technical feasibility.

To evaluate the technical feasibility of each of the WCSs, expert interviews with specialists in vessels, waterways, quay walls and assets were conducted. The social acceptance of the three WCSs was studied using a survey administered to potential users of these systems. They were asked to choose between various WCSs based on walking distance, their general preferences, their preferences in specific situations and their concerns regarding these systems. Parallel to the survey, potential user interviews were conducted to gain deeper insights into respondents' reasons for preferences or aversions to specific WCSs.

The results from the expert interviews were summarised and presented in a table to provide an overview of the feasibility of the three WCSs. Survey results were depicted through graphs illustrating respondents' choices, while potential user interviews were analysed thematically, supported by quotes from the interviews.

WCS with large- and medium-scale transshipment locations were both found to be potentially feasible from a technical perspective, whereas the small-scale option was deemed unlikely to be feasible. The survey indicated that the majority of the respondents had a preference for self-disposal in containers close to their homes as opposed to having their waste collected at a self-scheduled time, requiring them to be present at home to hand over the waste to the pickup service. Additionally, respondents preferred disposal facilities not too close to their homes or within their direct line of sight.
Insights from potential user interviews revealed that participants favouring self-disposal valued flexibility, while on the other hand, those preferring self-scheduled pick-up appointments believed this WCS would address the litter issue in the city.

In conclusion, a key trade-off identified was between providing residents with their most preferred waste disposal method through numerous disposal locations versus the technical challenges, if not impossibility, of realizing such a large number of locations.

Based on this, the municipality was recommended to conduct further research on WCSs with large- and medium-scale transshipment locations, alongside implementing pilot projects to test these systems in a real-world setting.