Improving municipal solid waste collection using spatial data

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Historically, waste management engineers have collected very little information about their municipal solid waste collection operations. The installation of global positioning system (GPS) data recorders and other automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems on solid waste collection vehicles has changed that situation significantly. In 2003, the applicant began working with the City of Hamilton to collect AVL data from five different waste collection vehicles operating on a variety of different collection routes. This work has demonstrated several practical uses for the collected data, but it is also clear that much more can be done with this rich data source. The purpose of the proposed research is to assist municipal solid waste managers with both their day-to-day operational decisions and their long-term planning needs by developing decision support tools for managing solid waste collection operations. The specific objectives of this research are:1.     to analyze fundamental spatial data on the movements and operations of a number of solid waste collection vehicles in a variety of different collection schemes using a geographic information system (GIS);2.     to relate those data to other data sets such as census information and weigh-scale records;3.     to develop an integrated set of modeling tools for analyzing municipal solid waste collection systems;4.     to apply those tools to a range of different waste collection operations with a view to improving the efficiency and reducing the cost and environmental impact of waste collection operations;5.     to communicate the results of the research to waste management engineers; and6.     to train graduate students in systems engineering methods and municipal solid waste management.This research is expected to result in more efficient and less costly waste collection operations. Specifically, this research should help to minimize the size of waste collection truck fleets and the amount of time required to collect municipal solid wastes. The end result will be lower capital and operating costs, lower fuel consumption, and reduced air emissions from waste collection vehicles.