Solid waste collection route optimisation by geographical information system in Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

Uncontrolled urban population growth in metropolitan areas of developing countries in recent years has made solid waste management an important issue. Generally, collection and hauling efforts cover a substantial amount of total expenditures on the solid waste management by city authorities. Success of an integrated solid waste management system is directly proportional to the success of solid waste collection and transport systems since all depends on an even and a timely manner collection process. The more populated cities bring increasing difficulties on the reach and utilise services. In order to reduce cost and time on these services, it is very crucial for authorities to search for optimisation possibilities. In this manner, for local authorities, one of the most important issues on solid waste management practices is an optimised solid waste collection function. An optimised collection function has become more important in metropolitan areas having improved and sophisticated road systems. In this study, in order to minimise the route and collection cost by employing GIS and using numerical road data, a solid waste collection route optimisation study was carried in Fatih District of Istanbul, Turkey.