Optimization of Municipal Solid Waste Collection System: Case Study
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 13, Issue 3
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.
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Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. NSFOISE-0405900) and the program manager is Dr. Osman Shinaishin. The writers would like to acknowledge the contributions from NJIT graduate student Mr. Omar Choukeir and Township of Millburn, New Jersey Officers Mr. Tim Gordon and Mr. Tim Monahan. Also, the writers are indebted to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.
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Information
Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 13 • Issue 3 • July 2009
Pages: 210 - 216
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 27, 2007
Accepted: Oct 29, 2008
Published online: Jun 15, 2009
Published in print: Jul 2009
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