A case study of fuel savings through optimisation of MSW transportation routes

Purpose – The high costs of collection and transportation of municipal solid waste (MSW) on the overall waste management budget (sometimes more than 75 per cent) makes it an issue to be urgently addressed for improvement. The paper aims to focus on the optimisation of routing networks for waste collection/transportation.Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes herein the application of geographic information system (GIS) 3D route modelling for waste collection/transportation to optimise the route according to the minimum fuel consumption criterion to different municipalities of the island of Santo Antao of Cape Verde.Findings – The optimisation for the lowest fuel consumption yields 52 per cent savings in fuel, when compared to that for the shortest distance, even travelling a 34 percent longer distance, which shows the importance of considering simultaneously the relief of the territory and the lowest fuel consumption criterion when optimising vehicle routes.Practical implications – With such a s...