Designing a multi-objective model for a hazardous waste routing problem considering flexibility of routes and social effects

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe vehicle routing problem (VRP), in recent years, more than ever has been taken into consideration. This study has presented a multi-objective model and focused on the development of this mathematical structure in the field of optimal transfer of hazardous waste. Thus, the factors such as travel time, travel distance, travel risks, and economic aspects are considered, while these factors have rarely been studied, simultaneously. Another important feature in this problem is the flexibility of routes. This issue has a social effect on this model. This is something that has not yet been seen in other research. Then, the developed structure is solved with the help of two meta-heuristic algorithms. Finally, sensitivity analyses are performed to evaluate the proposed model and provide managerial insights. Also, the performance of metaheuristic algorithms are compared to see which one is able to solve the problem efficiency.