Waste Collection Route Optimisation
Route Optimisation plans refuse and recycling rounds, balancing distance driven against keeping collection days stable for residents.
Keywords
- Tags: Optimisation
- Tags: Waste
- Tags: Net zero
- Stage: Production
- Type: Vehicle routing solver
- Sector: Environment
- Language: English
How does our product work?
The solver is given the properties to collect, vehicle capacities, crew shift lengths and access restrictions, and searches for a set of rounds with the lowest total distance.
A hard constraint keeps each property on the same weekday it had before, unless a round is being deliberately redesigned and residents are notified.
Overview
Rounds had accreted over two decades of boundary changes and new developments, and no longer reflected where the properties actually were.
Redesign cut distance driven by about 11 per cent, which is both a cost and an emissions reduction. The stability constraint exists because an unannounced change of collection day is the single most disruptive thing this service can do to a household.
Owner and responsibility
More detailed information on the system
Here you can get acquainted with the information used by the system, the operating logic, and its governance in the areas that interest you.
System description
The solver proposes; operations managers accept or reject. Proposals are reviewed against local knowledge the model does not hold, such as streets that are impassable at school opening times.
References
Route redesign consultation report.