Routing Optimization for Waste Management

Software-Driven Solutions to Routing Optimization for Waste Management

Depend on ROC To Determine the Right Routes for Your Garbage Trucks

Vehicle Routing Problem? We Help Waste Collection Companies Find the Optimal Route for Their Fleet

Route optimization in solid waste management is a must if municipalities are to provide the best service to their constituents, and if private solid waste disposal facilities hope to see a profit. Waste management gets about 33% of its income from landfill disposals, and 66% from waste collection. Because most of the income comes from actually collecting the garbage, it’s vital that waste collection companies make the operation of their fleet of garbage trucks as efficient as possible.

On this page we lay out the problems companies like yours face in finding the most feasible solution for transporting the garbage collected to the disposal facility – and we identify the how you can get the best routing optimization solutions, too.

The Routing Optimization Problem

You Need To Take Everything Into Account, from Variable Vehicle Costs to Time Window Constraints

We understand what your business is trying to do. You have to figure out when each route starts, hits all of its regular stops, and ends – and you have to do it for an entire fleet of recycling- and garbage-collection vehicles, taking into account travel time, fuel consumption, capacity constraints, intermediate disposal trips, and labor expenses. You might even need to factor in your employees’ lunch break.

The problem isn’t difficult to define; route optimization for waste management has a clear, unambiguous objective function. Nonetheless, it’s an extremely complicated math problem.

There are ways to find the best routes for collecting solid waste from around a neighborhood or town – and Route Optimization Consultants can direct you toward those solutions. But that leads us to another problem: Choosing the right route-optimization software for your particular circumstances.

There are a number of route management systems available. In fact, there are in excess of two hundred (200+) different software applications on the market. It’s important to find one that takes into account your company’s specific routing issues and provides broad benefits.

One of the more prominent waste collection problems many cities, towns, and urbanized areas face is that there are different sources of waste scattered all over. Sometimes a particular stop is a wild outlier from the rest of the stops, with no other regular stop nearby. This increases the cost of transporting the waste collection.

This is why a clear strategy that focuses specifically on the issue of minimizing the distance for each garbage collection route is required. Schemes that are well-planned and correctly implemented can reduce over one-third (⅓) of the total garbage collection path distance.

The Routing Optimization Solution

Effective Software-Driven Models Based on Operations Research – So They Really Work

Route Optimization Consultants is well-established in the business of helping waste management clients become more efficient in their garbage collection routes. The reason ROC is the trusted company for optimized routes is because our mastery of the software is unrivaled.

And that’s the solution: The software. No matter which of the more than 200 packages you choose – and we can definitely help you with that choice – you’re going to get a powerful piece of software that’ll provide abundant information on optimal routes.

So how do you choose?

Let’s take a hypothetical for-instance: You’re a private waste collection service with exactly one vehicle and you need to optimize your route in certain areas to collect both recycling and trash from all the residential customers you serve. Due to the private homes’ neighborhood regulations, you’re bound to comply with mandatory adherence to specific time windows during which you must start service time and finish.

Even considering all that and any additional constraints, Route Optimization Consultants can – right away – provide valuable, workable recommendations for the best waste collection software to use . . . and we can help you use it, too.

ROC Has the Key to Better Vehicle Routing

Get Rid of That Old Map and Get Modern to Solve Your Route Optimization Problem

The trick is to determine and implement these route optimization solutions effectively, and that’s where our experts at Route Optimization Consultants excel. We know every key component needed to elicit the best solutions to your vehicle routing problem, resulting in maximum success.

Firstly, it’s not all about the technology. There are many different software products out there for route optimization and they all have their merits. Some are better for waste management in major areas like big cities; others are recommended for waste collection scenarios with a graphical vertex set or arc set (meaning the math could be even more complicated); other software packages make extensive use of metaheuristic algorithms to determine the time variable for a given set of optimized routes.

It’s not all about the technology, because it’s the people on the ground that will use the software. We make sure the correct people are assigned to manage implementation of the optimized routes. It’s not necessarily the route supervisors who’re the best people for this task, as they may not be familiar with the technology, operations research, or optimized solutions provided by the software.

People matter, and so does the culture and structure of the company they work for. It’s essential that good business processes are in place before the software is even purchased.

Secondly, we make sure that the quality of data being put into the software is top-notch. You’ve probably heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out.” Accurate customer data and logs are essential for the software to succeed. To facilitate this, we provide customer database cleansing as well as infield database audits. The data needs to be updated often, so the whole system must sync up with your work orders, billing, and everything else.

When you sign up with Route Optimization Consultants, our experts will carry out a route performance check and develop your most optimized routes. Plus, our experienced team can help with route implementation planning, and even perform a detailed cost analysis.

Good Routing Data Make Great Routing Solutions

Your Waste Collection Trucks Are Only as Good as Their Last Trip

We’ve used the term “operations research” a few times on this page but haven’t really supplied a definition. In essence, we take operations research as a fancy way of saying “data applicable to the waste collection operations of your company.”

That includes data points like the actual number of stops, the cost of fuel, the correct incremental volume of the garbage, the trucks’ capacities, and more.

Whatever your situation, Route Optimization Consultants has seen it before. We have case study after case study that demonstrates the efficacy of our route optimization solutions. It’s not a straightforward matter to get the software to produce ideal routing options – but that’s precisely what ROC does best.

Helping Customers Like You Get Through the Maze

We’re the Disposal Facilities’ and Garbage Collection Companies’ Guide to Solving the Vehicle Routing Problem

So the problem is complex, and the software required to solve the problem is likewise complex. Now you see the value we bring at Route Optimization Consultants.

We help you through the esoteric maze of time windows, metaheuristic algorithms, and balanced clustering algorithms to arrive at the best routes for your waste collection vehicles.

When it comes to the software, our experts offer a customized needs assessment to help you work out exactly what software you need before you go out and purchase anything. This can save you both time and money. For your added edification, we can also provide you with route optimization software product reviews.

Once you’ve purchased the software, our team is ready to assist you with getting everything up and running. We provide user training, operations research services, and crew or operator instruction to ensure you get the maximum use out of the software you’ve bought.

Call us today at 571-316-0676 for a free consultation on route optimization for recycling and waste collection. We’re more than happy to help your fleet drive better routes in your quest for better waste management.

Get Your Free Consultation Today

Call, Click or Email ROC to Get the Ball Rolling

Make the move to greater efficiency. Sign up for an appointment with Route Optimization Consultants and see how much better your waste management company’s bottom line can be.

Give us a call at 571-316-0676, send us an email to in**@**************************ts.com, or fill out the short Contact Us form at the bottom of this webpage.

One of our qualified experts in vehicle routing will be in touch to learn more about your concerns and gather essential data. Soon your garbage trucks will be driving more efficiently, saving your drivers time in their day, and your company money on fuel and labor costs!