Donald Trump Explains my Waste paper

A few months ago, I had a conversation with a friend about our work, how it is not always easy to explain it to people outside our field, and how much we still need to improve on science communication. 

Her solution: "Write it in Trump language but then with actual science behind it"

We just kept joking about it and made some snippets of her work as if it was Donald who was telling the story. Today, I came across the ChatGPT conversation I was using to make the snippets and I thought: "Let's see how it would explain the paper from my MSc thesis".

So, here it is my paper explained by Donald J Trump. You can also listen to him, I did the audio with a TTS model but is not that good, still funny.

Making Waste Management Great Again: A High-Tech Urban Digital Twin Solution

Alright folks, listen carefully, because we're talking about something really fantastic here—this "Urban Digital Twin" (UDT) paper—totally cutting-edge stuff, very impressive. Believe me, nobody knows urban digital twins like I do, nobody. This is about solid waste management, okay, which is a huge, huge deal—billions of tons of waste every year. Terrible! Especially a big problem in South Africa, let me tell you.

So what are these folks doing? They're using what they call an "Urban Digital Twin"—it's basically like building a totally realistic, completely digital copy of part of a city. You can test anything you want, run simulations, see what's working, what's not—it's very smart, very high-tech. Not just simple maps or pretty 3D models, folks, we're talking dynamic stuff—real-time updates, simulations, everything.

They've applied this amazing technology in a neighborhood called Hatfield and Hillcrest in the city of Tshwane, South Africa. Beautiful place. But they have big problems with waste collection—people unhappy, waste all over the streets, protests—it's a disaster. So they developed this Urban Digital Twin thing, which uses geospatial data—LiDAR scans, that's like lasers, very advanced—to build realistic 3D models of the city. They combine this with volunteered geographic info from citizens (citizen science, great concept) and other data like waste generation rates, building usage, and so on.

Here's what they did—very smart people, by the way—they simulated exactly where waste is generated, figured out how full each garbage container gets, and then used sophisticated software (vehicle routing optimization—sounds complicated, but it's just computers telling trucks where to go) to optimize waste collection routes. Saves fuel, saves money, less CO2 emissions, everybody wins, okay?

They even have a nice Dashboard, a simple online tool so city officials, stakeholders, and even ordinary citizens can see all this info in real-time. Fantastic transparency. Shows things like how full bins are, optimal collection routes, fuel use, CO2 emissions, littering hotspots—very visual, easy to understand, even if you're not a computer genius.

The stakeholders—city officials, citizens, academics—gave their opinions. People generally loved the dashboard but had some concerns about accuracy, because accuracy matters a lot, folks. They also said it was really easy to use, looked great, and made things clear. But some wanted better explanations on how the whole thing works, understandable.

This UDT idea has huge potential—huge—to scale up. They say it can work in different cities, even with limited resources. Very important for developing countries. Plus, this approach helps meet some global goals—Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, great goals—especially numbers 11, 12, and 13, about cities, waste, and environment.

But—because we're fair, we have to mention this—there are challenges. Data quality has to improve. Right now they're using waste estimates from studies done elsewhere (like Greece—totally different country, very different context). They need real local data to make this precise.

Bottom line: This is a great study—really solid, believe me—bringing cutting-edge tech into urban planning and waste management. It's got potential, huge potential, to save cities money, clean up streets, and make life better for millions of people. This digital twin stuff—really top-of-the-line technology, folks. It's going places, big league, big league.

What do you think? Easier to understand? Does it catch the attention?

If it does, you can read more here