A heuristic solution method for node routing based solid waste collection problems Article (Published) (Refereed) Original Citation: Hemmelmayr, Vera and Doerner, Karl and Hartl, Richard F. and Rath, Stefan (2013) Abstract This paper considers a real world waste collection problem in which glass, metal, plastics, or paper is brought to certain waste collection points by the citizens of a certain region. The collection of this waste from the collection points is therefore a node routing problem. The waste is delivered to special sites, so called intermediate facilities (IF), that are typically not identical with the vehicle depot. Since most waste collection points need not be visited every day, a planning period of several days has to be considered. In this context three related planning problems are considered. First, the periodic vehicle routing problem with intermediate facilities (PVRP-IF) is considered and an exact problem formulation is proposed. A set of benchmark instances is developed and an efficient hybrid solution method based on variable neighborhood search and dynamic programming is presented. Second, in a real world application the PVRP-IF is modified by permitting the return of partly loaded vehicles to the depots and by considering capacity limits at the IF. An average improvement of 25% in the routing cost is obtained compared to the current solution. Finally, a different but related problem, the so called multi-depot vehicle routing problem with inter-depot
Recently, REF studied a real world application in waste collection.
A heuristic solution method for node routing based solid waste collection problems
Journal of Heuristics
Mathematics Computer Science