The scope for joint household/commercial waste collections: a case study

Abstract

Although commercial and household wastes are compositionally similar, common UK practice is for separate collections. This paper uses vehicle routing and scheduling software to predict the benefits of allowing household and commercial wastes to be collected together by a common vehicle fleet. This was compared in a case study in which collections were made from over 25,000 households on an alternate-weekly basis and from 577 commercial premises having one or more collections each week. Modelled joint collections reduced vehicle mileage by up to 9.8%, equating to an annual saving of around £36,800 and a carbon equivalent saving of 2688 kg per annum. The modelled benefits were greatest when a common starting time (6 a.m.) was adopted for the commercial and household collections. The modelled rounds were estimated to have sufficient time and vehicle capacity available to allow an additional 50% of commercial waste to be collected, equating to 35.8 tonnes per week.