A dynamic location-arc routing optimization model for electric waste collection vehicles

Waste collection management plays a crucial role in controlling pandemic outbreaks. Electric waste collection systems and vehicles can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sanitary processes in municipalities worldwide. The waste collection routing optimization involves designing routes to serve all customers with the least number of vehicles, total traveling distance, and time considering the vehicle capacity. This paper proposes a dynamic location-arc routing optimization model for electric waste collection vehicles. The proposed model suggests an optimal routing plan for the waste collection vehicles and determines the optimal locations of the charging stations, dynamic charging arcs, and waste collection centers. A genetic algorithm and grey wolf optimizer are used to solve the large-sized random generated NP-hard location-arc routing problems. We present a case study for the city of Edmonton in Canada and show the grey wolf optimizer outperforms the genetic algorithm. We further demonstrate the total number of waste collection centers, charging stations, and arcs for dynamic charging needed to ensure a minimum required service for electric vehicles throughout Edmonton's entire waste collection system.