Optimizing Municipal Waste Collection: a Case Study of a City in Poland
Optimizing Municipal Waste Collection: a Case Study of a City in Poland

Summary/Abstract: The main problem of waste management is the increasing amount of municipal waste, and one of the key processes generating high costs is the waste collection process. The aim of the article was to optimize the route of a garbage truck using information technology (IT) software in one of the most popu- lated Polish cities. The article tests the study hypothesis: the use of route optimization software will reduce the route length traveled by the garbage truck of the MZO in Pruszków. The data for the study was made available with the consent of the Municipal Treatment Plant in Pruszków. The received materials included information on, among others, Global Positioning System (GPS) readings of the garbage truck, including route start and end times, route length, average speed, driving time, and time of stops, points selected by the planners to collect waste along the route, information on the amount of waste collected during the implementation of the route, technical data on the moving vehicle and characteristics of the sorting plant were received. The article proposes the optimization of the routes of collection and transportation of municipal waste using the traveling salesman problem (TSP). The minimization of route length was assumed as the optimization criterion. All calculations were made in the Routimo program dedicated to route planning and optimization. As a result of the optimization, the route length was reduced by nearly 32%, and the working time by 9%. Thus, the research hypothesis stated in the article was positively verified.

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