Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Reducing pollutant emissions in a waste collection vehicle routing problem using a variable neighborhood tabu search algorithm: a case study

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
TOP Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper focuses on designing waste collection routes with a single landfill using eco-efficiency as a performance indicator. In this problem, there are a limited number of heterogeneous vehicles based at a single depot. Empty vehicles leave the depot, collect waste from a set of locations and drop off the collected waste at a specific landfill. Then, vehicles leave the landfill and may collect more waste from other locations or return empty to the depot. Traditional performance indicators in vehicle routing problems are mainly focused on economic objectives, not explicitly considering environmental issues. In this paper, a mathematical model is presented with an eco-efficient objective function that takes into account external costs (climate change and air pollution). The COPERT model is used for estimating fuel consumption, carbon dioxide and pollutant emissions. The problem is first heuristically solved using a semi-parallel construction algorithm. Then, solutions are improved by a variable neighborhood tabu search algorithm developed for this problem. The algorithm is validated for a real problem in the municipality of Alcalá de Guadaíra, within the metropolitan area of Seville (Spain). Results obtained on a set of case studies improve the solution that is currently implemented in the municipality, in terms of total distance traveled, carbon dioxide emissions and pollutant emissions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Angelelli E, Speranza MG (2002) The periodic vehicle routing problem with intermediate facilities. Eur J Oper Res 137(2):233–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apaydin O, Gonullu MT (2008) Emission control with route optimization in solid waste collection process: a case study. Sadhana 33(2):71–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bautista J, Fernández E, Pereira J (2008) Solving an urban waste collection problem using ants heuristics. Comput Oper Res 35(9):3020–3033

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bektaş T, Laporte G (2011) The pollution-routing problem. Transp Res Part B Methodol 45(8):1232–1250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beliën J, De Boeck L, Van Ackere J (2012) Municipal solid waste collection and management problems: a literature review. Transp Sci 48(1):78–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benjamin AM, Beasley JE (2013) Metaheuristics with disposal facility positioning for the waste collection VRP with time windows. Optim Lett 7(7):1433–1449

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bing X, de Keizer M, Bloemhof-Ruwaard JM, van der Vorst JG (2014) Vehicle routing for the eco-efficient collection of household plastic waste. Waste Manag 34(4):719–729

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blum C, Roli A (2003) Metaheuristics in combinatorial optimization: overview and conceptual comparison. ACM Comput Surv (CSUR) 35(3):268–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boskovic G, Jovicic N, Milasinovic M, Jovicic G, Milovanovic D (2013) Methodology for reduction of GHG emission from municipal waste collection and transport. Int J Qual Res 7(4):641–652

    Google Scholar 

  • Brandão J (2011) A tabu search algorithm for the heterogeneous fixed fleet vehicle routing problem. Comput Oper Res 38(1):140–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CE Delft; Infras; Fraunhofer ISI (2011) External costs of transport in Europe—update study for 2008. CE Delft, Delft

    Google Scholar 

  • Croes GA (1958) A method for solving traveling-salesman problems. Oper Res 6(6):791–812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demir E, Bektaş T, Laporte G (2012) An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the pollution-routing problem. Eur J Oper Res 223(2):346–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demir E, Bektaş T, Laporte G (2014a) A review of recent research on green road freight transportation. Eur J Oper Res 237(3):775–793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demir E, Bektaş T, Laporte G (2014b) The bi-objective pollution-routing problem. Eur J Oper Res 232(3):464–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dror M (ed) (2012) Arc routing: theory, solutions and applications. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • EEA (2012) Air quality in Europe-2012 report. EEA report no 4/2012. ISSN 1725-9177. Office for Official Publications of the European Union. European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, DK

  • Eguia I, Racero J, Molina JC, Guerrero F (2013) Environmental issues in vehicle routing problems. In: Erechtchoukova MG, Khaiter PA, Golinska P (eds) Sustainability appraisal: quantitative methods and mathematical techniques for environmental performance evaluation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 215–241

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ene S, Küçükoğlu İ, Aksoy A, Öztürk N (2016) A hybrid metaheuristic algorithm for the green vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet. Int J Veh Des 71(1–4):75–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erdoğan S, Miller-Hooks E (2012) A green vehicle routing problem. Transp Res Part E Logist Transp Rev 48(1):100–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2011) Directive 2011/76/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 amending Directive 1999/62/EC on the charging of heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures. Official Journal of the European Communities, EU

  • Felipe Á, Ortuño MT, Righini G, Tirado G (2014) A heuristic approach for the green vehicle routing problem with multiple technologies and partial recharges. Transp Res Part E Logist Transp Rev 71:111–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franceschetti A, Honhon D, Van Woensel T, Bektaş T, Laporte G (2013) The time-dependent pollution-routing problem. Transp Res Part B Methodol 56:265–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gendreau M, Hertz A, Laporte G, Stan M (1998) A generalized insertion heuristic for the traveling salesman problem with time windows. Oper Res 46(3):330–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golden BL, Wong RT (1981) Capacitated arc routing problems. Networks 11(3):305–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han H, Ponce Cueto E (2015) Waste collection vehicle routing problem: literature review. Promet-Traffic Transp 27(4):345–358

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen P, Mladenović N, Pérez JAM (2010) Variable neighborhood search: methods and applications. Ann Oper Res 175(1):367–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoff A, Andersson H, Christiansen M, Hasle G, Løkketangen A (2010) Industrial aspects and literature survey: fleet composition and routing. Comput Oper Res 37(12):2041–2061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • INFRAS, CE Delft, ISI, University of Gdansk (2008) Handbook on estimation of external cost in the transport sector. produced within the study: internalisation measures and policies for all external cost of transport (IMPACT), Delft, CE

  • Ioannou G, Kritikos M, Prastacos G (2001) A greedy look-ahead heuristic for the vehicle routing problem with time windows. J Oper Res Soc 52(5):523–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jabali O, Woensel T, De Kok AG (2012) Analysis of travel times and CO2 emissions in time-dependent vehicle routing. Prod Oper Manag 21(6):1060–1074

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kara I, Kara B, Yetis M (2007) Energy minimizing vehicle routing problem. In: Dress A, Xu Y, Zhu B (eds) Combinatorial optimization and applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4616. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 62–71

  • Karadimas NV, Papatzelou K, Loumos VG (2007) Optimal solid waste collection routes identified by the ant colony system algorithm. Waste Manag Res 25(2):139–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim BI, Kim S, Sahoo S (2006) Waste collection vehicle routing problem with time windows. Comput Oper Res 33(12):3624–3642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kindervater GAP, Savelsbergh MWP (1998) Vehicle routing: handling edge exchanges. In: Aarts E, Lenstra JK (eds) Local search in combinatorial optimization. Wiley, London, pp 337–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Koç Ç, Karaoglan I (2016) The green vehicle routing problem: a heuristic based exact solution approach. Appl Soft Comput 39:154–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koç Ç, Bektaş T, Jabali O, Laporte G (2014) The fleet size and mix pollution-routing problem. Transp Res Part B Methodol 70:239–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koç Ç, Bektaş T, Jabali O, Laporte G (2015) A hybrid evolutionary algorithm for heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problems with time windows. Comput Oper Res 64:11–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopfer HW, Schönberger J, Kopfer H (2014) Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of a heterogeneous vehicle fleet. Flex Serv Manuf J 26(1–2):221–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer R, Subramanian A, Vidal T, Lucídio dos Anjos FC (2015a) A matheuristic approach for the pollution-routing problem. Eur J Oper Res 243(2):523–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer R, Maculan N, Subramanian A, Vidal T (2015b) A speed and departure time optimization algorithm for the pollution-routing problem. Eur J Oper Res 247(3):782–787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuo Y (2010) Using simulated annealing to minimize fuel consumption for the time-dependent vehicle routing problem. Comput Ind Eng 59(1):157–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leggieri V, Haouari M (2017) A practical solution approach for the green vehicle routing problem. Transp Res Part E Logist Transp Rev 104:97–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li F, Golden B, Wasil E (2007) A record-to-record travel algorithm for solving the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem. Comput Oper Res 34(9):2734–2742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin C, Choy KL, Ho GT, Chung SH, Lam HY (2014) Survey of green vehicle routing problem: past and future trends. Expert Syst Appl 41(4):1118–1138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu FH, Shen SY (1999) The fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem with time windows. J Oper Res Soc 50(7):721–732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maden W, Eglese R, Black D (2010) Vehicle routing and scheduling with time-varying data: a case study. J Oper Res Soc 61(3):515–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mladenović N, Hansen P (1997) Variable neighborhood search. Comput Oper Res 24(11):1097–1100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molina JC, Eguia I, Racero J (2018) An optimization approach for designing routes in metrological control services: a case study. Flex Serv Manuf J 30(4):924–952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montoya A, Guéret C, Mendoza JE, Villegas JG (2016) A multi-space sampling heuristic for the green vehicle routing problem. Transp Res Part C Emerg Technol 70:113–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ntziachristos L, Samaras Z (2012) EMEP/EEA emission inventory guidebook 2009, updated May 2012

  • Nuortio T, Kytöjoki J, Niska H, Bräysy O (2006) Improved route planning and scheduling of waste collection and transport. Expert Syst Appl 30(2):223–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oberscheider M, Zazgornik J, Henriksen CB, Gronalt M, Hirsch P (2013) Minimizing driving times and greenhouse gas emissions in timber transport with a near-exact solution approach. Scand J For Res 28(5):493–506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paraskevopoulos DC, Repoussis PP, Tarantilis CD, Ioannou G, Prastacos GP (2008) A reactive variable neighborhood tabu search for the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem with time windows. J Heuristics 14(5):425–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pastorello C, Dilara P, Martini G (2011) Effect of a change towards compressed natural gas vehicles on the emissions of the Milan waste collection fleet. Transp Res Part D Transp Environ 16(2):121–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penna PHV, Subramanian A, Ochi LS (2013) An iterated local search heuristic for the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem. J Heuristics 19(2):201–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez JAM, Moreno-Vega JM, Martın IR (2003) Variable neighborhood tabu search and its application to the median cycle problem. Eur J Oper Res 151(2):365–378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Repoussis PP, Paraskevopoulos DC, Tarantilis CD, Ioannou G (2006) A reactive greedy randomized variable neighborhood tabu search for the vehicle routing problem with time windows. In: Almeida F, Blesa Aguilera MJ, Blum C, Moreno Vega JM, Pérez Pérez M, Roli A, Sampels M (eds) Hybrid metaheuristics 2006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4030. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 124–138

  • Savelsbergh MW (1992) The vehicle routing problem with time windows: minimizing route duration. ORSA J Comput 4(2):146–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sbihi A, Eglese RW (2007) Combinatorial optimization and green logistics. 4OR 5(2):99–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider M, Stenger A, Goeke D (2014) The electric vehicle-routing problem with time windows and recharging stations. Transp Sci 48(4):500–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semet F (1995) A two-phase algorithm for the partial accessibility constrained vehicle routing problem. Ann Oper Res 61(1):45–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon MM (1987) Algorithms for the vehicle routing and scheduling problems with time window constraints. Oper Res Int Journal 35(2):254–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sonesson U (2000) Modelling of waste collection—a general approach to calculate fuel consumption and time. Waste Manag Res 18(2):115–123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subramanian A, Penna PHV, Uchoa E, Ochi LS (2012) A hybrid algorithm for the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem. Eur J Oper Res 221(2):285–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taillard ÉD (1999) A heuristic column generation method for the heterogeneous fleet VRP. RAIRO Oper Res 33(1):1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taillard É, Badeau P, Gendreau M, Guertin F, Potvin JY (1997) A tabu search heuristic for the vehicle routing problem with soft time windows. Transp Sci 31(2):170–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tajik N, Tavakkoli-Moghaddam R, Vahdani B, Mousavi SM (2014) A robust optimization approach for pollution routing problem with pickup and delivery under uncertainty. J Manuf Syst 33(2):277–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tavares G, Zsigraiova Z, Semiao V, Carvalho MDG (2009) Optimisation of MSW collection routes for minimum fuel consumption using 3D GIS modelling. Waste Manag 29(3):1176–1185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teixeira J, Antunes AP, de Sousa JP (2004) Recyclable waste collection planning—a case study. Eur J Oper Res 158(3):543–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao Y, Konak A (2016) The heterogeneous green vehicle routing and scheduling problem with time-varying traffic congestion. Transp Res Part E Logist Transp Rev 88:146–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiao Y, Zhao Q, Kaku I, Xu Y (2012) Development of a fuel consumption optimization model for the capacitated vehicle routing problem. Comput Oper Res 39(7):1419–1431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zsigraiova Z, Semiao V, Beijoco F (2013) Operation costs and pollutant emissions reduction by definition of new collection scheduling and optimization of MSW collection routes using GIS. The case study of Barreiro, Portugal. Waste Manag 33(4):793–806

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research has been fully funded by the Andalusia Government through Grant P10-TEP-6332.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela Superior de Ingeniería, Universidad de Sevilla, Camino de los Descubrimientos s/n, 41092, Seville, Spain

    Jose Carlos Molina, Ignacio Eguia & Jesus Racero

Authors
  1. Jose Carlos Molina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ignacio Eguia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jesus Racero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Carlos Molina.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Molina, J.C., Eguia, I. & Racero, J. Reducing pollutant emissions in a waste collection vehicle routing problem using a variable neighborhood tabu search algorithm: a case study. TOP 27, 253–287 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11750-019-00505-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11750-019-00505-5

Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

Search

Navigation