A simultaneous facility location and vehicle routing problem with recyclable express packaging consideration for sustainable city logistics

Environmental pollution from express packaging waste is a crucial issue for the development of sustainable city logistics. The use of recyclable express packaging can reduce resource consumption and pollution, but it also leads to additional recycling time and costs. To manage this problem, this paper considers the joint optimization of express parcel delivery and recyclable express packaging recycling. The optimization problem is defined as a simultaneous location and vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery. To exploit better potential to balance vehicle working time and operating costs, a bi-objective mixed integer linear programming model is developed. Numerical experiments show that the proposed method provides a more feasible allocation for facility location and route planning. The cost savings from REP recycling account for 45.36% of the operating costs, which means that the packaging costs are saved and the burden of express packaging waste on the urban environment is correspondingly alleviated. The joint optimization of delivery and recycling is helpful to promote the forward and backward connection of the industrial chain and supply chain, which can provide a reference for recycling network planning in the large-scale application of recyclable express packaging and contribute to sustainable city logistics.