Expert System for Evaluating and Notifying Hazardous Waste Generators

Abstract

Monitoring and regulating hazardous waste generators is becoming increasingly difficult. Expert systems are used to expedite the process of evaluating information on generators and reporting the results to them. This system not only makes the technical analysis more efficient, it also effects significant reductions in the time required to generate the associated paperwork. A Lotus 1‐2‐3 spreadsheet has been used to develop a prototype of this system. The advantage of the spreadsheet is that the entire analysis can be done with a single software system that is widely used. The method of setting up the knowledge base, the rule base for user interaction, and the extraction table are discussed. Macro‐statements are used to run the extraction process for creating an action letter to the hazardous waste generators. A similar system can be used in other applications where paperwork needs to be generated as part of the engineering analysis and/or design.