Routing Optimisation of Urban Medical Waste Recycling Network considering Differentiated Collection Strategy and Time Windows

• Published in: Scientific programming Vol. 2021; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Gao, Jiajing, Li, Haolin, Wu, Jingwen, Lyu, Junyan, Tan, Zheyi, Jin, Zhufan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Hindawi 18.03.2021; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Algorithms; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Efficiency; Experiments; Garbage collection; Health facilities; Integer programming; Linear programming; Literature reviews; Logistics; Medical research; Medical wastes; Mixed integer; Particle swarm optimization; Problem solving; Public health; Recycling; Route planning; Sensitivity analysis; Supply chains; Vehicle routing; Vehicles; Windows (intervals); China
• ISSN: 1058-9244; 1875-919X
• DOI: 10.1155/2021/5523910

The increasing gap between medical waste production and disposal stresses the urgency of further development of urban medical waste recycling. This paper investigates an integrated optimisation problem in urban medical waste recycling network. It combines the vehicle routing problem of medical facilities with different requirements and the collection problem of clinics’ medical waste to the affiliated hospital. To solve this problem, a compact mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed, which takes account of the differentiated collection strategy and time windows. Since the medical waste recycling operates according to a two-day pattern, the periodic collection plan is also embedded in the model. Moreover, we develop a particle swarm optimisation (PSO) solution approach for problem-solving. Numerical experiments are also conducted to access the solution efficiency of the proposed algorithm, which can obtain a good solution in solving large-scale problem instances within a reasonable computation time. Based on the results, some managerial implications can be recommended for the third-party recycling company.