Location–allocation of bins in urban solid waste management: a case study of Bilaspur city, India

For an efficient management of solid waste across the cities, proper allocation of waste bins has become a subject of paramount importance. At present, most of the cities of developing countries are facing the problem of lack of waste bins in appropriate places. This deficiency in the number of waste bins results in littering habit and increases the number of waste collection points for the local authorities. Large numbers of collection points increase the collection cost and carbon emission in the environment. In this paper, a mixed integer linear programming model has been formulated to determine the total number of bins required in any site considering different factors like multiple types of sources, waste bins and wastes types along with safety and rag-picking. An efficient method has been proposed for the allocation of bins such that the bins are able to provide service to the entire targeted site. The developed model is tested using the data obtained from an Indian city to demonstrate its applicability. The result manifests the effectiveness of the model in terms of reduction in collection points (15%), idling cost (25%) and carbon emission (35%).