Garbage collection

Vehicle routing problem

Simulated annealing

Heuristics

Sociology

Aerospace engineering

Archaeology

Population

Computer network

Mathematics

Operations research

Algorithm

Mathematical optimization

Metaheuristic

Local search (optimization)

Tabu search

Demography

Iterated local search

Engineering

Metropolitan area

Geography

Programming language

Transport engineering

Computer science

Routing (electronic design automation)

Truck

Waste collection

Waste management

Garbage

Municipal solid waste

Decision Analytics Journal

The dense population and high solid waste production make it challenging to determine the optimal routes for garbage collection trucks in metropolitan cities. Moreover, incorrectly planned routes cause waste of fuel, time, and other resources in the municipal garbage collection process. Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a combinatorial optimization problem that aims to find optimal routes for a certain number of vehicles that start from a depot, visit all customers, and return to the depot. This study aims to find the optimal routes that satisfy all the needs by considering the waste collection process of the Istanbul Umraniye district. Data on the currently used routes, daily tonnages, number of truck trips, and the number and locations of containers in the Umraniye district were obtained from the Umraniye municipality. We solve the route optimization problem of the Umraniye municipality with multiple heuristics and meta-heuristic algorithms like the nearest neighbor, savings, Christofides, simulated annealing, greedy descent, guided local search, and Tabu Search algorithms. We show the examined heuristics and meta-heuristics can produce fast and feasible solutions to large-size real-life problems.

The applications of multiple route optimization heuristics and meta-heuristic algorithms to solid waste transportation: A case study in Turkey