Solution of the maximal covering tour problem for locating recycling drop-off stations

Abstract

Tactical decisions on the location of recycling drop-off stations and the associated collection system are essential in order to increase recycling amounts while keeping operational costs at a minimum. The conflicting nature of the objectives of the problem can be modelled as a bi-objective location-routeing problem. In this paper, we address the location-routeing problem of recycling drop-off stations by solving the Maximal Covering Tour Problem. To this aim, we propose a heuristic inspired by a variable neighbourhood search. The heuristic is tested on a set of benchmark instances from the TSPLIB and applied to a set of real-life instances from both urban and rural areas in Denmark. Based on the results of the real-life cases, we provide insights on the trade-off between recycling rates and transportation costs.

Keywords:

• Location
• recycling
• maximal covering tour
• heuristics

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the Editor, the Associate Editor, and the referees for their support and valuable comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research - Social Sciences. Project “Transportation issues related to waste management” [grant number 4182-00021]. This support is gratefully acknowledged.