Dynamic Collection Scheduling Using Remote Asset Monitoring: Case Study in the UK Charity Sector

Remote sensing technology is now coming onto the market in the waste collection sector. This technology allows waste and recycling receptacles to report their fill levels at regular intervals. This reporting enables collection schedules to be optimized dynamically to meet true servicing needs in a better way and so reduce transport costs and ensure that visits to clients are made in a timely fashion. This paper describes a real-life logistics problem faced by a leading UK charity that services its textile and book donation banks and its high street stores by using a common fleet of vehicles with various carrying capacities. Use of a common fleet gives rise to a vehicle routing problem in which visits to stores are on fixed days of the week with time window constraints and visits to banks (fitted with remote fill-monitoring technology) are made in a timely fashion so that the banks do not become full before collection. A tabu search algorithm was developed to provide vehicle routes for the next day of operation on the basis of the maximization of profit. A longer look-ahead period was not considered because donation rates to banks are highly variable. The algorithm included parameters that specified the minimum fill level (e.g., 50%) required to allow a visit to a bank and a penalty function used to encourage visits to banks that are becoming full. The results showed that the algorithm significantly reduced visits to banks and increased profit by up to 2.4%, with the best performance obtained when the donation rates were more variable

Optimization of recyclable waste collection using real-time information

This paper addresses the recyclable waste collection problem in urban areas. The work focuses on the recyclable glass bins collection, but with the peculiarity that these are provided with a device that sends fill level data daily to the control center. With this additional real time information we propose a collection policy that minimizes the length of the routes of vehicles on two levels, one daily and other for a larger planning horizon. This proposed policy is compared to the one used in the current literature and only optimizes the daily routes. Several simulations of the two policies are performed on a model of the city of Seville. Results show the proposed policy achieves better results in terms of meeting demand and better utilization of resources

Integrating Smart Objects into a Integrated Internet of Things Architecture for Smart Cities

Increasing population in urban centers day by day demands for more services and infrastructure in order to meet all the needs of residents and visitors of the city. Due to the increased developments in advanced metering and digital technologies smart cities have been equipped with different electronic devices on the basis of Internet of Things (IOT), The utilization of all the technologies to achieve this objective presents an opportunity for the development of smart cities. This paper focus specifically to an urban IOT system and also to provide a comprehensive review on the concepts of smart cities, technologies of IOT and its applications

Internet Of Things Based Nashik Smart City

IoT (Internet of Things) is an advanced automation and analytics system which exploits networking, sensing, big data, and artificial intelligence technology to deliver complete systems for a product or service. These systems allow greater transparency, control, and performance when applied to any industry or system. IoT systems have applications across industries through their unique flexibility and ability to be suitable in any environment. They enhance data collection, automation, operations, and much more through smart devices and powerful enabling technology. IoT is a technical base behind developing smart city and it acts as a building blocks of the same. IoT helps in improving the quality of life of citizens and transforming cities with the help technological solutions

Route Optimization of MSW Collection and Transport Using a GIS-Based Analysis on the Tourism Island

The Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management on Si Chang Island is challenging in terms of its limited land resources, high cost of waste treatment, and seasonal fluctuations in waste volumes from tourists and shipping activities. There are sufficient waste bins available to cover MSW production on the island. The downside of the management is an inappropriate open dumping site that is prone to environmental pollution and health risk. However, resilience is shown in the implementation of an integrated approach of waste separation, composting, and incineration. This study developed a complete road network and applied a network analyst extension, which was useful in the area of optimization of MSW collection and transport. Two optimal routes were shown for MSW collection. Two vehicles were utilized to collect about 10 tons of MSW per day in two trips. A total travel distance for one-day transportation was 38.5 km. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from vehicles during MSW collection and transport was 0.85 g/km, accounting for 119 t CO2/yr

Economic Model for Household Solid Waste Collection

Protection of public health and water resources is partly maintained through efficient waste collection. This paper presents a model to calculate collection and transfer cost of household solid waste. The model was applied to estimate the collection and transfer cost of household waste for a district in Cairo, Egypt. The model was calibrated and verified using data that was collected through surveying 30 waste collectors. The model is applied for both new and used trucks and was successful in determining the required fee to be collected per household and per ton of waste. The collection and transfer cost model is based on variable and fixed costs. Collection and transfer costs, in Egypt, were less than those presented in literature. This was attributed to lower labour cost and lower capital costs needed for waste collection and transfer. Keywords: Municipal solid waste management system; Collection and transfer cost; Household Waste, Waste collection mode

Assessing dynamic models for high priority waste collection in smart cities

Waste Management (WM) represents an important part of Smart Cities (SCs) with significant impact on modern societies. WM involves a set of processes ranging from waste collection to the recycling of the collected materials. The proliferation of sensors and actuators enable the new era of Internet of Things (IoT) that can be adopted in SCs and help in WM. Novel approaches that involve dynamic routing models combined with the IoT capabilities could provide solutions that outperform existing models. In this paper, we focus on a SC where a number of collection bins are located in different areas with sensors attached to them. We study a dynamic waste collection architecture, which is based on data retrieved by sensors. We pay special attention to the possibility of immediate WM service in high priority areas, e.g., schools or hospitals where, possibly, the presence of dangerous waste or the negative effects on human quality of living impose the need for immediate collection. This is very crucial when we focus on sensitive groups of citizens like pupils, elderly or people living close to areas where dangerous waste is rejected. We propose novel algorithms aiming at providing efficient and scalable solutions to the dynamic waste collection problem through the management of the trade-off between the immediate collection and its cost. We describe how the proposed system effectively responds to the demand as realized by sensor observations and alerts originated in high priority areas. Our aim is to minimize the time required for serving high priority areas while keeping the average expected performance at high level. Comprehensive simulations on top of the data retrieved by a SC validate the proposed algorithms on both quantitative and qualitative criteria which are adopted to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. We claim that, local authorities could choose the model that best matches their needs and resources of each city

The Waste Collection Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows in a City Logistics Context

AbstractCollection of waste is an important logistic activity within any city. In this paper we study how to collect waste in an efficient way. We study the Waste Collection Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window which is concerned with finding cost optimal routes for garbage trucks such that all garbage bins are emptied and the waste is driven to disposal sites while respecting customer time windows and ensuring that drivers are given the breaks that the law requires. We propose an adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm for solving the problem and illustrate the usefulness of the algorithm by showing that the algorithm can improve the objective of a set of instances from the literature as well as for instances provided by a Danish garbage collection company

Quantitative assessment of sustainable city logistics

[EN] The aim of this paper is to seek an answer to an specific question: how to make city logistics sustainable? This question in principle has no specific answer. By contrast, it could be answered in many and varied ways. Behind the search for some of these answers lies the development of a roadmap which this work aims to present. The research lines, the theoretical framework and methodology of the roadmap will be explained. Although the current status of the roadmap, its duration and timing still need to be completed, the main facts, as well as the results obtained to date and the expected results are here presented.Grosso-Delavega, R.; Muñuzuri, J. (2015). Quantitative assessment of sustainable city logistics. International Journal of Production Management and Engineering. 3(2):97-101. doi:10.4995/ijpme.2015.3320.SWORD971013