Waste collection vehicle routing problem with time windows

In this paper, we address a real life waste collection vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) with consideration of multiple disposal trips and drivers' lunch breaks. Solomon's well-known insertion algorithm is extended for the problem. While minimizing the number of vehicles and total traveling time is the major objective of vehicle routing problems in the literature, here we also consider the route compactness and workload balancing of a solution since they are very important aspects in practical applications. In order to improve the route compactness and workload balancing, a capacitated clustering-based waste collection VRPTW algorithm is developed. The proposed algorithms have been successfully implemented and deployed for the real life waste collection problems at Waste Management, Inc. A set of waste collection VRPTW benchmark problems is also presented in this paper. Waste collection problems are frequently considered as arc routing problems without time w...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: COR
• Authors: Byung-In Kim, Seongbae Kim, Surya Sahoo
• Keywords: COR 2006, Life Waste Collection, Waste Collection, Waste Collection Problems