Optimization of municipal solid waste collection system: Case study

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-26-2009

Abstract

Curbside collection of municipal solid waste (MSW) constitutes a substantial portion of waste management cost. The utilization of operations research tools for the reduction of MSW collection costs in the Township of Millburn, N.J., was investigated. This research identified network models, specifically the Chinese postman problem algorithm as one of the approaches that could be used to evaluate the truck routes and the optimum sequence of each of these vehicles needed to collect the generated waste. The Township of Millburn has a population of 20,000 in approximately 7,000 households. The township divides the service area into three sections and collects waste twice a week from curbsides of single-family and two-2 family units using up to four trucks. Additional data, such as the number of houses per street and distances between intersections, were obtained from the Township and from Google Earth. Then with the aid of commercial software, the optimum routes for each of the trucks were obtained. Results from this optimization study were then compared with the current waste collection practice. Based on the case study results improvements to the current MSW collection procedure were proposed to the Township of Millburn, N.J. © 2009 ASCE.

Identifier

67649090443 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Practice Periodical of Hazardous Toxic and Radioactive Waste Management

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1090-025X(2009)13:3(210)

ISSN

1090025X

First Page

210

Last Page

216

Issue

3

Volume

13

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