A solution methodology for a Smart Waste Collection Routing Problem with workload concerns: computational and managerial insights from a real case study

Abstract

The focus of this paper is the Smart Waste Collection Routing Problem (SWCRP) with workload concerns, a variant of the well-known Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). Specifically, we propose a solution methodology to address medium to large size problems consisting of two phases. In the first phase, a look-ahead heuristic is used to decide when to perform collection routes considering that real-time information is available through sensors located inside the waste bins. In the second phase, it defines the routes to perform using either an optimisation-based approach or a hybrid metaheuristic approach. A large-size real case study is used to test these approaches. Significant improvements on the key performance indicators characterising the waste collection operations demonstrate the benefits that can be achieved through the proposed solution methodology, within balanced collection routing plans are designed. Moreover, computational and managerial insights about adding workload concerns and performing multi-municipality versus single-municipality operations are provided for the case study.