Solving the waste bin location problem with uncertain waste generation rate: A bi-objective robust optimization approach

Abstract

An efficient municipal solid waste (MSW) system is critical to modern cities in order to enhance sustainability and liveability of urban life. With this aim, the planning phase of the MSW system should be carefully addressed by decision makers. However, planning success is dependent on many sources of uncertainty that can affect key parameters of the system, for example, the waste generation rate in an urban area. With this in mind, this article contributes with a robust optimization model to design the network of collection points (i.e. location and storage capacity), which are the first points of contact with the MSW system. A central feature of the model is a bi-objective function that aims at simultaneously minimizing the network costs of collection points and the required collection frequency to gather the accumulated waste (as a proxy of the collection cost). The value of the model is demonstrated by comparing its solutions with those obtained from its deterministic counterpart over a set of realistic instances considering different scenarios defined by different waste generation rates. The results show that the robust model finds competitive solutions in almost all cases investigated. An additional benefit of the model is that it allows the user to explore trade-offs between the two objectives.