A robust biobjective model to locate waste collection points considering uncertain waste generation rate

ROSSIT, DIEGO GABRIEL; BARD, JONATHAN

Santiago

Congreso; The 23rd Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies; 2023

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

An efficient Municipal solid waste (MSW) system is critical to modern cities in order to enhance sustainability and livelihood of urban life. In this regard, collection points, in which waste is disposed by the citizens, are usually the entry point to the MSW system. Thus, the network of collection points (i.e., location and storage capacity) should be carefully planned to ensure the correct functioning of the system. However, this planning can be affected by uncertainty in waste generation which can reduce the ability of decision makers to propose robust networks that can handle different scenarios. In this line, this article proposes a robust mixed integer programming model that incorporates uncertainty in waste generation. The model has a bi-objective fashion which aims at simultaneously minimizing the cost of the collection points network and the required emptying frequency by collection vehicles (as a proxy of the collection cost) while considering a specific restriction on a minimal quality of service provided to citizens. The validation of the model is performed though the comparison of deterministic and robust model over a set of realistic instances. The robust model is able to handle different levels of uncertainty budgets.