A bi-objective sustainable vehicle routing optimization model for solid waste networks with internet of things

Abstract

Waste production is growing in most communities due to population expansion. Given the stated issue, managing the Solid Waste (SW) created worldwide would be vital. Effective Waste Management (WM) is essential to preserving the environment and lowering pollution. It aids in resource preservation, greenhouse gas emission reduction, and ecosystem protection. Additionally, the promotion of public health and sanitation is significantly aided by WM procedures. This study presents an integrated procedure to enhance the operations of a WM network for recycling SW. We propose a mathematical model to find the optimal sustainable vehicle routes, allocation, and Sequence Scheduling (SS) problem in the recycling industry to reduce costs and CO₂ emissions and increase job opportunities. The fundamental innovation of this work is considering waste-vehicle and waste-technology compatibility and Internet of Things (IoT) systems in the model to decrease CO₂ emissions and identify compatible waste for recycling centers to produce more final products. An LP-metric and an Epsilon Constraint (EC) approach are used to solve the suggested model. By comparing the two approaches, we have found EC performs better in results and CPU time. As a result, various test problems of different sizes are offered. Accordingly, sensitivity analyses are recommended to assess the suggested model’s effectiveness. Using vehicles compatible with waste reduces CO₂ emissions. Utilizing IoT technology and optimization methods makes it feasible to save costs (20%), have a less destructive impact on the environment (36%), and ultimately increase the sustainability of the WM process.