Bi-objective optimization of a VRP problem applied to urban solid waste collection through a model that includes the visual attraction of routes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a bi-objective vehicle routing model for urban waste collection that balances travel time and route compactness, evaluated through exact methods on small instances.

Contribution

It presents a novel bi-objective model incorporating route compactness into VRP for waste collection, and compares solution methods' efficiency.

Findings

Trade-off between travel time and route compactness demonstrated.

Weighted sum and ε-constraint methods effectively solve small instances.

Route compactness impacts practical implementation of waste collection routes.

Abstract

The compactness of routes in distribution plans is a criterion that has not been sufficiently explored in the literature related to logistics distribution but has shown to have a significant impact on the practical implementation of routing plans, for example in solid waste collection problems. In this regard, this article presents a bi-objective model to optimize the vehicle routing problem with time constraints, considering the minimization of travel times and the compactness of routes. Experimental tests were conducted on small-scale instances using two exact solution methods for multi-objective problems: weighted sum and augmented {\epsilon}-constraint methods. The results obtained allowed us to explore the trade-off relationship between both objectives while evaluating the computational efficiency of both multi-objective solution methods.