A pragmatic approach to improve the efficiency of the waste management system in Stockholm through the use of Big Data, Heuristics and open source VRP solvers : A real life waste collection problem;Stockholm’s waste collection system and inherent vehicle

Sammanfattning: In this thesis, we will address a real life waste collection problem; Stockholm’s waste collection system and inherent vehicle routing problem, VRP. To do this we will first delve into some mathematical theory of Combinatorial Optimization and Heuristics to understand the fundamentals of the problem. Following with some pragmatic approaches recommended by experts within the Smart Cities context. Finally, the most important part of the work is the creation of a model of the actual collection system and two optimized versions. After completing the model of the system, we compare the current situation of the system with alternatives in the system's planning phase. To achieve this modelling we have to make use of different GIS and VRP software; CartoDB and Open Door Logistics respectively. CartoDB has a freeware version while Open Door Logistics is an open source software operating with an open source algorithm called JSPRIT. Finally the results, which are both quantitative and qualitative, based mainly on the modelling phase, plus other cases studies and pragmatic recommendations, give us some hints of what can be achieved in Stockholm’s waste collection system.The modelling of the system has been simplified to make the comparison less prone of discrepancies with regards to the control variable. Minimizing the variability of the problem such as disregarding the “time- windows” and differentiated capacity vehicles, improves the credibility of the final results; these being, reorganizing the weekly work load, and districting (clustering) the entire municipality depending on the number of contractors handling each waste type.