A smart framework for municipal solid waste collection management: A case study in Greater Cairo Region
Alsayed Alsobky, Mostafa Ahmed, Sherien Al Agroudy, Khaled El Araby
Abstract
Around 28 million tons of municipal solid wastes (MSW) are annually generated in Egypt, with 40% in Greater Cairo Region (GCR). Although, the government aims at improving the MSW service coverage and collection efficiency, formal collection service is still limited and operates with low transportation efficiency resulting in illegal waste collection and dumping. This research aims at providing optimized collection systems to accommodate various housing levels and considering the available resources. As a case study, the collection routes in Al-Mostakbal City, are optimized by selecting the appropriate location and containers order. Meanwhile, the pick-up time is optimized using the appropriate vehicle type, fleet size, and rounds. In addition, dynamic routing is applied using developed production models. A simulation model is developed to assess various improvement scenarios and recommend the effective one for various schemes. The outcome is a highly-efficient framework; with potential to be extended to cover other urban areas.