SOLIDWASTE MANAGEMENT APPLYING VALUE STREAM

Abstract: Lean Management is an approach that can be used in order to improve the environmental performance of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), identifying the source of Solid Wastes (SW) and proposing strategies to reduce or eliminate them. In this study a methodological approach based on the application of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and the literature review about Solid Waste Management (SWM) is proposed including the building of the current situation map, analysis and the building of the desired situation map in order to identify and implement improvement actions for the SWM in one pilot unit of the plastic sector in Colombia. The results confirm some advantages of the proposed VSM methodology as a practical redesign tool of waste and materials flows in the value stream