WAC 2012 1569524137
GREENBOX: a management system for used cooking
oils collection
Sousa A., Faria J., Fernandes H.
University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Vila Real, Portugal
{andresousa,jfaria,hugof}@utad.pt
Abstract: The rapid proliferation of human population and the
growth of consumption leaded to an increase of hazardous waste.
This becomes a worldwide ecological and environmental challenge.
According to last available statistics the estimated global municipal
solid waste reached 2.02 billion tons. Unfortunately there is not
only solid waste: vegetable oil, one kind of liquid waste, used in
food manufacturing, is responsible for serious contamination of
water resources. Its collection is profitable by recycling into
biodiesel and is already regulated in some countries. However it
faces several logistic issues. Major issues are related to collection
delays, which lead to oil giveaway, and reduced collection [1,2].
This paper proposes a solution to some of these logistic problems
introducing a system to manage cooking oil collection in order to
increase collection profits. The developed system follows a defined
oil collection plan in order to optimize collection routes,
introducing a sensor network that triggers collection events to a
central system overcoming the current collection delays and wastes.
The system is being tested in a real scenario with a Portuguese
cooking oil collection company.
Keywords: Oil Collection, Management System, GreenBox,
Vegetable oil Management System, Recycling
I. INTRODUCTION
The rapid increase in human population over the last
centuries has led to the increase of consumption and by
consequence to the growth of hazardous wastes to a level that
can become a threat to life in the planet [3]. Several of these
residues produced by Man are associated to his food. Some of
them are related to packaging (paper, glass, plastic) or products
used in the confection his meals (cooking oils for example).
The recycling of these products is, nowadays, a well-known
process, in particular concerning packaging wastes which
collection is already made in large scale. However, other
wastes, in particular the liquid ones, such as the cooking oils,
need further attention. These wastes need to be destroyed or
recycled since they cannot be stored in landfills sites due to
countries legislation, namely the European Council Directive
1999/31/CE of April 26 1999 that regulates waste deposition in
landfill sites. Moreover, recycling has been matter under an
intense academic research in order to create solutions to
1
Gonçalves R., Paredes H., Martins P., Barroso J.
GECAD/UTAD – Knowledge Engineering and Decision
Support Research Center
University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro
Vila Real, Portugal
{ramiro, hparedes, pmartins, jbarroso}@utad.pt
recycle, reuse or even reprocess these wastes in something both
profitable and advantageous for the environment [4].
Nowadays cooking oils (from now on referenced as oils)
recycling is emerging, since the result of the process creates
two very profitable sub-products: glycerine and raw-biodiesel
[5,1,2]. Considering the profit factor of this process and the
current regulation, which enforces the catering industry to
dispose oil wastes to certified collection companies [6], oil
collection becomes a very attractive business opportunity.
Despite the growth of oil collection and its potential profit,
it faces challenging problems, namely related with cost-benefit
factors. The main problem is related to the collection logistics,
and similar with a well-known challenge: the travel salesman
problem, which proposes to visit a number of cities in the
shortest path possible. In oil collection, the problem can
become even more complex when it grows into a multi-
variable equation. The production of used oils is affected by
many factors, such as: holidays or regional events, seasons of
the year, the country’s economic stability. Those can reduce or
increase the people affluence or even affect the kind of meals
that are prepared affecting catering industry profits. All these
factors contribute to a reduction on the quantity of oil collected
compared to what was expected.
This paper presents the Greenbox system, a platform for oil
collection management that is being developed in order to
solve some of the presented issues. The system explores some
solutions to the presented challenges, particularly related to the
collection process. As most of the problems associated with the
logistic collection process are related with the lack of
information associated with the status of the recipient, the
system includes a sensor network attached to the collection
recipients that provide the required information. This makes
possible to the Greenbox system to know which recipient is
ready for collection. Moreover, by knowing the recipient status,
it is possible for the company to improve oil collection with
fewer downsides for the client, as his container is collect before
reach full capacity.
This paper is organized in 6 sections: in section II is
presented a review of some of the main academic propositions
that are trying to solve logistic challenges. In section III is
introduced the Greenbox system, as a platform for oil
collection management. Section IV details the web
management interface for the Greenbox system, introducing its
main features. First results of our tests are discussed in section
V. In the last section (V) are presented some final remarks
concerning the presented work.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Section II presents a review of some of the main proposals
to address the challenge of liquid waste collection. These kinds
of waste have some properties that create limitations to the
collection process, like when the quantity of liquid to be
collected in each point (restaurant) is very small or when the
container has to be retrieved for cleaning. These kinds of
scenarios create limitations in terms of the type of vehicle to be
used. Until recently, due to the constraints of liquid waste
collection processes, pickup management systems are mostly
manual or adapted from solid waste collection manage systems.
There are some interesting commercial solutions that can be
used, like the RouteWare suite [7]. This product allows for
complex remote monitoring of the vehicles and management of
the collection process. Their solution of software plus hardware
is oriented for big collection companies or companies that
collect big quantities of waste like those involved in solid waste
collection, since this kind of solution has a considerable upfront
investment. Even with all these interesting characteristics, these
kinds of systems are hard to adapt to the collection of liquid
waste, especially to vegetable oil collection, mainly due the
reduced quantities, which limits the Return on Investment
(ROI). Other solutions, like the E-Drive, are primarily designed
for fleet management and are very powerful in tracking and
managing vehicles [8]. They are designed to manage
transportation, but lack collection management.
On the academic side there are some proposals that try to
solve these challenges and many others. The work of Jin-Quan
Li, et all, tries to implement a planning and collection platform
for municipal waste management in Porto Alegre, Brasil [9].
Another work by Repoussis, proposes a system to collect lube
oil, with the restrains focused on time and different sizes of
collected quantities [10].
Unfortunately all the solutions analysed are oriented to the
collection of large quantities of waste or with pre-defined
routes. None of them considers the problem of variant oil
production and collection in restaurants.
This section presented an overview of some of the
academic approaches when trying to solve these challenges of
route management and optimization. On the next section a
detailed description of the problem is going to be presented.
III. THE GREENBOX SYSTEM
Greenbox project was born due to the need of optimization
of oil collection routes and the availability of a management
system that could answer most of their problems regarding the
reduction of collection’s cost. Current logistic systems and
management platforms lack on the support for oil collection,
mainly due to specific collection plans that are applied with this
2
kind of waste. Traditionally routes are planned manually or
using a generic route management system. However, these kind
of approaches lead to some problems: the client is closed; the
client does not have yet enough oil to makes the collection
profitable; or the client has already filled the container and does
not have the proper recipient for continuing the used oil
accumulation. These problems bring downsides to clients and
reduce the revenue to the collection company. This project is
the evolution of a previous award-wining concept: the Smart-
Containers [11].
The proposed solution has the goal of creating a platform
that supports the management of oil collection. With this
system oil collection companies will reduce their route
collection costs, as the system will enable the creation of more
efficient routes, taking into account the distance and the
information about the amount of oil available for collection.
This project also aims to improve the paperless document
management by introducing the usage of mobile devices in the
collection process and migrate today’s paper system to digital
documents. However, the system should also have support for
traditional document management due to (Portuguese)
bureaucratic problems that force certified oil collection
companies to deliver the official collection receipt in paper.
Although the Greenbox project is being applied for the oil
collection, the system is designed to be generic in order to be
used in the generic collection of wastes.
A. GreenBox Collection Plan
Figure 1. GreenBox Collection Plan
The Greenbox generic collection plan is presented in figure
2. The plan assumes that all clients have an active module with
a mass sensor that triggers an alert to the central management
system when it notices that the container reaches its
predetermined capacity. The event notification is done through
an SMS (Short Message Service) message. The choice of the
GSM network as a communication platform was due to its
coverage, mainly because each oil collection company is
responsible of a large area for collection.
After receiving notification, the central system is
responsible processing it and including it in the creation of the
optimized collection routes. The introduction of alert sensors in
the collection allows the system to create better routes, as it
knows that all clients have 70-80% of maximum container
capacity. The choice of the notification level provides the
system the required flexibility to obtain an optimized number
of clients in the collection area in order to make the collection
profitable and determine more efficient routes.
 After the creation of the collection route, the system
deploys it in a mobile collection unit (mobile device) that gives
navigation instructions to the collection employee regarding the
collection route. The usage of the mobile collection unit allows
more precise collection and helps the collection employee even
if he is not familiar with the collection area.
GreenBox Layered Architecture, defining the 4 architectural
layers:
 Data access layer – responsible for the connection to
the database, external systems and all the existing
management systems in the company

In the next subsection, the generic architecture for the  Business logic layer – the management system itself;
Greenbox system is presented from a physical and logical this layer is responsible for the workflow, from alert
perspective. The system description of the system includes management to client management, staff management,
further details on the most important modules of the platform route handling, equipment and statistics.
and their functionalities.  Service layer – responsible for the availability of
B. Physical Architecture View Greenbox as a service, allowing multiple interfaces.
The GreenBox System is internally composed by three  User interface layer– provides an interface foruser
modules: interaction.
 Main application - the server, with route, vehicle and
client management. This module also contains
connection services to the other modules (GSM and
Wireless Interfaces).
 Collection device – device that helps employees
through the collection route supplying navigation
instructions and client data. This device updates de
main application automatically at the end of the
collection route.
 Load Cell Alert Module - In order for the system to
know when the container is ready to be collected,
active modules with mass sensors have been created.
This allows the microprocessor to measure the filling
progress of container and send alerts when a specified
limit has been reached.

Figure 2. Physical Architeture View.

The system has also been developed so that it keeps

functioning even if this module is not being used at a specific
moment in time. Collection metrics are inserted manually,
which then get adjusted over time with the actual collections
made. This way, the company is able to benefit from the use of
a management system without the need for extra active bases in
all clients.
C. Logical Architectural View
The logical architecture of the system is structured in a
layer architectural style, and divided in 4 layers in order to
support future adaptations and isolation. Figure 3 presents the
Figure 3. GreenBox Layered Architecture
IV. THE GREENBOX MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The Greenbox management system allows the control of
the oil collection plan, providing a set of functionalities to
improve the overall process. To develop the management
interface of this system, web technology was chosen as a way
to allow for multiple users and multiplatform access. The
technology used was ASP.NET, using JQuery to an enhanced
user-friendly web interface.

3

Figure 4. Management System Screenshot
A. Client management
The client management module was developed with the
goal of providing autonomous operation, without the need of
third party intervention. Usually companies have independent
client management systems where they keep track of client
activities and transactions. As a requirement the Greenbox
system should use the information provided by those systems
and use it in their tasks. The process should rely on import
mechanisms that will be responsible for keeping this data
synchronized between both systems – Greenbox and the
company client management system.
Along with the development of the management system
interface modules were implemented, which integrate with the
main client management systems used in Portugal: ERP, Sage
Next and Primavera BSS. Also, a specific interface has been
created in order to allow the introduction of new connectors to
other systems, allowing the evolution of the Greenbox solution.
The synchronization of data between systems is unidirectional,
from the client management system to the Greenbox. This
guarantees the clients data integrity and provides the Greenbox
system the necessary data for it operation.
As the Portuguese legislation demands that residue
transport must have specific documentation and that both the
client and company store that data, the system allows document
management and means to import and export documents.
Moreover, when requested by inspectors it is possible to get
copies of the documents at any time any place.
B. Route management
In order to reduce the cost of collection the routes were
optimized based on the distances between points, in order to
obtain the shortest path possible. The algorithm chosen,
introduced by Marco Dorigo, is a nature inspired algorithm
which is based in the behaviour of ants and their process to
obtain the shortest path between the colony and the food source
[12]. In the process each ant marks its path with a pheromone
that reduces intensity over time. More times ants use a path,
stronger the scent becomes and other ants start using it and the
shortest path will emerge.
To ensure that the route is calculated using real road
distances between different collection points, this module uses
Bing Maps’ SOAP services. These services provide the
necessary information regarding real distances between two
points in order to calculate the best route. Moreover it is
possible to address situations where two very close clients are
located in a one-way street and so, the collection has to be
4
made in a specific order, or else the path will be longer than it
should.
The route management module also takes advantage of the
mobile device GPS, to improve the accuracy of the coordinates
of the collection point, which, in an initial phase, is obtained
using the client address. After each visit the real coordinate
gets more accurate.
C. Notification System
This module is composed of two main components: the
communication module, responsible for the reception and
registration of SMS alerts; and the alert module, responsible for
alert handling. When alerts are received they are stored in an
alert queue and later processed, being sorted through the
geographical area covered by the company. This module feeds
the routing module with client information, regarding which
ones need collection. This module is also responsible for
updating the collection periodicity based on client alerts. This
periodicity is used to estimate the filling progress and to add
more collection points, in order to increase the global collection
income.
In the future it is possible to evolve the system so that it
becomes possible to add knowledge about some factors that
may cause impact in the normal oil production (like local
parties or holydays) in order to optimize even further the
collection process and global income.
D. Mobile devices
The Greenbox system uses mobile platforms as support to
the collection of used cooking oils as a way to overcome the
several and different kinds of difficulties that arise in the
collection process, namely the need of updating individual
client data in the end of each collection and at the end of the
collection route. This allows keeping the system updated and,
for a specific member of the collection staff, to follow an
unfamiliar route, like in the case of medical leave or vacation
of a co-worker. Using navigation systems it is possible to
reduce the impact on these unpredicted factors in the overall
performance of the collection process, retrieving the maximum
outcome of each route.
By using these kinds of equipment new potential is created,
like controlling the whereabouts of the collection staff and
route tracking in order to obtain information about vehicle use
and alerts about new business possibilities or new clients.
E. Report management and statistics
This module allows the company’s management
department to have a global vision of what is happening,
including time efficiency by staff member or client. It also
allows visualizing a geographical section of the oil collection
area. With this kind of information it is possible to help
decision-making and consequently increase the business
expansion possibilities.
In order to obtain the maximum income from the routes, the
system allows adding and managing updated information about
employees, vehicles, mobile devices and categories. In this
manner it is possible to retrieve statistical data that allows the
analysis of potential income sources or help in problem
management.
 V. TESTING AND RESULTS
The Greenbox project was developed in partnership with a
collecting company. This association allows in deep
requirements analysis, addressing the maximum number of
challenges and issues these companies face in the collection
process. After creating the prototype testing system, a period of
extensive testing was used to validate several different
concepts, namely the effectiveness in real production
environments of the route optimization process.
This partnership allowed knowing some of the limitations
and requirements of the prototypes in industrial environments,
like the systems that detect and trigger full filling alerts. The
container cleaning process is extremely aggressive due to the
nature of the chemical products and temperatures involved.
These experiments allowed for better problem understanding
and to better address the specific requirements of this kind of
industrial environments.
Another problem that has been detected in the testing
period was a problem with client identification. In spite of the
fact that the system recommends a specific collection sequence,
it may be occasionally necessary to return to a specific
collecting point. The solution was to scan a barcode present in
the container, but it turned to be a bad solution because these
were printed barcodes that would not survive long in these
harsh environments.
Regarding the management platform, this partnership
allowed acquisition of knowledge regarding which kind of
information is required for the collection and collection-related
problems, like the storage of collecting guides. Regarding route
related tasks, the development of this system allowed to
understand the impact of the use of a navigation systems, since
it is very usual for the collection staff to follow personally
known paths, even if longer or with heavier traffic. This system
has a stronger impact when a specific route is being treated for
the first time.
It is not yet possible to present data regarding the impact of
the use of this system in the collecting company so as to
determine the number of system weak points, because at the
moment this would severely interfere with the company’s
current workflow and productivity.
In this sense, the system has been implemented with two
smaller collection routes, in a way that it does not interfere with
the regular productivity and at the same time know if the
system addresses the collection requirements correctly. For this
reason there is no statistical information regarding the system
impact in the company. In spite of this fact, some feedback was
obtained from the collection personnel, which confirms that the
collection route suggested by the system is short and fast. It has
been noticed that the staff visited all the required collection
points and finished the task sooner that they previously did,
also with less route complexity. The staff also reported that the
route and collection management was easier with the use of the
developed platform.
5
VI. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
The presented system has the main goal of simplifying the
logistics of the collection of used cooking oils. It provides a
way of increasing the global outcome and optimizing the
collection process, both in the choice of collection points to the
creation of collection routes, thus reducing the overall
bureaucracy of the collection process. This system has been
created and designed with the intent of introducing a new
approach to the logistics of the collection process, reducing the
amount of effort of all the parts involved, from the consumer to
the collecting staff. This platform has also been designed to be
adapted to any other kind of residue, without much adaptation.
This system is proposed as a solution to the most common
problems reported by collecting companies. Since this system
is currently being developed in partnership with
FILTAPORTO, this allows us to easily identify and solve most
of the issues that may come along, addressing new needs. The
objective is to create a system that can feed the maximum
amount of information and collaborate in the business process,
trough the optimization of the collection routes.
The collection of exceeding fat accumulated in dishwashing
sinks is also presently being introduced in the system, but still
in intermediate research and, thus, will be addressed in a future
paper.
As future work the system will be updated with machine
learning techniques and statistical prediction as a way to advise
the collecting company in the business process. Namely, during
the testing period, data regarding the collecting process will be
stored as a way to retrieve statistical data and provide the
ability to create a management system that doesn’t need the
current alerting system embedded in the containers. The system
will learn from experience and adapt to new collection needs.
The introduction of statistical analysis is also considered as a
way to give the company the ability to create their own
statistical maps.
Another research area to be introduced to the system is the
ability to predict statistically the evolution of the collecting
process. The collection management system is intended to help
the company in the task of planning the collection process,
being at the same time a tool for decision-making that helps the
company in increasing the overall income and productivity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to express our appreciation for the
collaboration of the company Filtaporto, our partner in the
development of this project, which is co-financed by the
“Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER)”,
through the “Programa Operacional do Norte (ON.2)” and the
Incentive “Sistema de Incentivos à Investigação e
Desenvolvimento Tecnológico nas Empresas (SI I&DT),
projecto em Co-Promoção” with an investment of 458,268.89
euros.
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