Waste collection

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Description/Abstract

This chapter provides a summary of the practical issues associated with the collection of municipal solid waste and of the challenges faced in trying to develop accurate waste collection models. The chapter highlights the variety of materials that are collected and the many collection options available (e.g. containers, vehicles, collection frequencies and methods). Waste collection problems and methods include: locating facilities (e.g. vehicle depots, waste disposal sites); sub-dividing rounds into districts for ease of operation and of optimisation; specifying the aggregation level for the collection points to be modelled (e.g. postcode, street, block) and then estimating the waste volume to be collected from each collection point; and optimising vehicle routes and schedules. The chapter concludes with four case study examples of modelling research results from around the world