Rapid assessment of industrial waste production based on available employment statistics

A number of problems arise when trying to ascertain the types and quantities of industrial waste generated by a city or region for waste management purposes. To estimate the amount of industrial waste produced it is often necessary to carry out an industrial waste survey—this can be time consuming and costly and beyond the scope of most authorities in developing countries. INVENT is a computer program developed to predict industrial waste production within an area requiring the minimum of data gathering. It comprises a database containing information on known types and quantities of waste that arise from many different types of manufacturing industry. Using this data amounts of waste for other similar industries in an area can be predicted. Initial predictions are based on waste production per employee in other locations.