Are you a waste management business owner grappling with planning routes for waste collection? Well, you are not alone.
Route planning for a waste management business has been an enigma to date for even seasoned professionals in this industry. It is not just about plotting collection points and finding routes to connect them. Rather, it is about sequencing these stops in a way that helps save both time and fuel.
However, unforeseen traffic situations, route autonomy, or ever-changing waste generation patterns make it a daunting job.
Want to know more about these challenges and ways to overcome them?
This blog can be your go-to guide for common route planning challenges in solid waste collection and how route optimization software can help surmount them. So, let’s begin:
Challenges of Solid Waste Collection Route Planning
Following are a few prominent challenges of planning routes for waste collection.
1. Inability to determine optimal collection routes
Manual route mapping may work for a waste management company with small service areas and fewer collection addresses. However, it often fails to keep up with the rise in customers over time. The reason is that it becomes challenging to consider aspects like traffic congestion, maximum legal speed, or restricted zones.
Inadequate route optimization and planning that ensue can also increase occurrences of route overlaps. It may happen due to the lack of real-time coordination among collection zones and teams. Consequently, it causes a failure to plan the most efficient routes that waste collection vehicles can follow.
2. Unpredictable traffic conditions
Solid waste management companies, especially those operating in large metropolitan areas, often face this route optimization challenge. It may be due to factors such as heavy traffic during morning rush hours, community gatherings, or accidents that may cause disruptions.
This constantly fluctuating traffic congestion during different times of the day makes route optimization an uphill task in big cities. Inefficiencies in route optimization result in delayed collections and hence, increased time.
3. Higher repair and maintenance costs
As collection sites increase, the fleet size and the distance each collection vehicle covers will also surge. Improper planning of routes can aggravate this issue further. This is because inefficient route optimization will add unwanted deadhead miles. These constitute the distances a truck travels between dropping off a load and picking up another across waste collection routes.
Besides, more starts and stops while traversing multiple locations will accelerate the wear and tear of collection vehicles, necessitating frequent upkeep service costs. Furthermore, tracking a large fleet size to know which truck was serviced when and stay abreast of the maintenance schedule also becomes cumbersome.
‍4. Drivers prefer autonomy to route optimization
Sometimes, drivers may overlook the assigned routes to follow and take the ones based on their prior experience or intuition. It is more prevalent with seasoned employees operating in the same city or area for a long time. So, it leads to their deviation from the most optimal routes created with route optimization software.
Even after covering the assigned waste collection sites, companies miss the opportunity to reduce fuel consumption. This route autonomy also causes delays when the path a driver takes is closed or blocked. Resultantly, the company’s continued effort and strategy to boost cost savings and efficiency fail to serve the desired purpose.
5. Unfamiliarity with optimal routes in a new area
The waste management industry relies heavily on drivers’ capability to cover the assigned routes as efficiently as possible. While old drivers are familiar with an area and can traverse an optimal route quickly, new ones may find it arduous.
Additionally, if a seasoned driver leaves a waste management company, replacement drivers may take time to get acquainted with the new area. This way, the departure or transfer of experienced drivers leads to inefficiencies in the waste collection process.
6. Dynamic waste generation patterns
Waste generation is generally dynamic and unpredictable, making it hard to stick to a static route plan. For instance, waste generation volumes in a suburban area that has both residential and commercial properties may keep varying.
The solid waste may soar during weekend events, community gatherings, festive seasons, or construction/demolition projects compared to other times. Predicting these ever-changing patterns and trends is complex, rendering static route planning infeasible to accommodate them.
7. Missing driver notes
Driver notes are crucial in the waste management sector. These refer to the information a driver records on their route about bin conditions, weights, or contamination concerns. However, in a fast-growing urban area, waste collection teams may find documenting notes time-consuming and counterproductive, especially if done manually.
Thus, they overlook this aspect, making it hard to respond to changing waste volumes, customer feedback, or overflow issues. It eventually renders the entire solid waste disposal process ineffective and inefficient.
8. Failure to deliver accurate ETAs and collection windows
Customers expect estimated collection times to align with their daily routines and, therefore, demand real-time ETAs. An inadequate route optimization strategy fails to consider factors such as traffic, maximum speed, or one-way streets to plan routes accordingly.
It, thus, makes a solid waste management company struggle to provide accurate collection times and service windows. Moreover, it hampers the customer experience, directly impacting the company’s credibility and reputation.
9. Excess fuel consumption and carbon emissions
The absence of well-planned routes has far-reaching company-wide and environmental repercussions. One, it leads to traversing longer distances than required to collect waste, causing fuel consumption and operational costs to shoot up.
Waste Management Inc., one of the leading waste management conglomerates in the US, reported $16.3 billion in operating costs last year. It was around 9% higher than that in 2021.
This figure is a testimony to the gravity of the issue of soaring operating expenses.
Two, suboptimal route optimization contributes to higher carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, causing environmental pollution. These effects combine to defeat the goal of achieving efficient and sustainable waste management.
10. Regulatory Compliance and Safety
Ensuring compliance with environmental regulations regarding waste disposal is imperative for a waste management company. For instance, the routes designated to carry hazardous waste may be different from those for non-hazardous or electronic waste. Moreover, the guidelines for disposing of medical waste may be different from those for organic waste.
For example, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by the United States Environmental Protection Agency lays down laws for waste management. So, keeping track of all these statutes and staying abreast of amendments becomes challenging. It may attract suits or penalties in case of violations and heavy legal fees to prevent the implications that follow.
11. Fatigue and lowered productivity
Drivers are the cornerstone of an effective waste management system. So, any inability to plan optimal waste collection route(s) causes uneven workload distribution. In the long run, this inefficiency manifests itself in drivers’ fatigue.
This tiredness renders them unable to ensure covering all the assigned solid waste collection routes in the stipulated timeframe. It, in turn, may force them to work overtime, escalating fatigue levels even further, resulting in a dip in productivity and customer satisfaction levels.
So, it is clear that planning routes for waste collection is undeniably a complex job.
The next section elaborates on how route optimization software can help simplify it.
How Can Routing Software Help Overcome Municipal Solid Waste Collection Route Planning Challenges?
Route optimization software has the potential to overcome roadblocks and transform the approach of planning routes for waste management.
Here’s how.
1. Automated route optimization and readjustment
Routing software leverages advanced algorithms to generate the most efficient routes for waste collection and disposal. It also helps consider dynamic variables, such as road conditions, locations of waste bins, and traffic situations while planning routes.
This software also helps readjust predefined route plans to adapt to changing conditions for maximum efficiency and minimal idle time. For example, you can add or remove collection stops to a route plan, change their order, or reassign the entire route to another driver. All these features contribute to increased responsiveness and agility.
2. Elevated customer experience
Route mapping software helps consider factors such as vehicle speed, type, or traffic movement to create the shortest possible routes. It can also factor in the customer’s service window to minimize missed collections.
Besides it can also calculate estimated times of arrival (ETAs) based on the driver’s availability, break duration, and service window. You can also communicate the same information to customers via custom notifications/alerts/emails, enhancing transparency, reliability, and service experience.
3. Reduced operational costs and increased efficiency
Using routing software, you can map out the most efficient collection routes to reduce costs spent on both fuel and maintenance. Besides, this software also facilitates the allocation of the right type of vehicle and driver to each waste collection route, maximizing productivity.
Additionally, it ensures minimal manual intervention in planning and readjusting routes based on routing aspects, like weather/season or traffic. Therefore, chances of human errors, such as assigning the same route to multiple drivers or assigning collections outside the driver’s working hours, go down. All these features cumulatively increase resource utilization while keeping operational inefficiencies at bay.
4. Visibility into waste collection drivers’ progress
Route optimization software helps track every driver’s live location from start to finish. You can use it to monitor their movements and identify any deviation from the preassigned collection route. It can help you ensure the service goes as planned with minimal distractions and maximum productivity.
This software also lets you add a collection address based on priority or urgency and reroute the driver to it. It helps handle the dynamic demands efficiently, maximize the waste collected, and minimize idle time. All these functionalities empower you to make data-driven decisions to offer high-quality service in compliance with the company’s policies.
5. Regulatory adherence and safety
Routing software facilitates evaluating multiple variables, such as one-way streets, noise ordinances, and routes designated to transport waste of different types. Accordingly, it can help plan routes that ensure solid waste collection complies with regulatory policies. Not just that, you can also track the route to make sure the driver follows the designated route, especially if the waste is radioactive or hazardous.
You can also track the time spent at each collection site to ensure no driver is exposed to harmful emissions beyond the prescribed duration. This way, route optimization software helps prevent any violations or potential threats to public health and drivers’ safety.
6. Comprehensive performance reports
Performance tracking is vital to determining the areas of improvement. Route optimization software provides in-depth route plan reports to track important metrics, including the count of completed or missed collections. You can view them by day, week, month, or custom duration.
You can also track the pending or missed collections to determine overdue work per fleet. You can also view each driver’s average utilization, service time, and idle/overtime hours. Based on these insights, you can figure out the corrective course of action to bring the waste collection operations back on track.
7. Unlimited Scalability
Managing a large number of collection stops manually may neither be practical nor wise. Route optimization software enables you to import as many collection addresses as needed to map and optimize them for distance or time.
This empowers you to scale up your collection operations without worrying about optimizing them. You can also integrate it with any navigation app, including Google/Apple Maps or Waze using API to visualize and even adjust locations to enhance accuracy.
8. Sustainable and greener waste management
Research reveals that route optimization can help cut down on fuel costs by around 20%.
Route optimization software weighs in constraints, including vehicle capacity, road congestion, or drivers’ availability, to create optimal routes accordingly. It, thus, reduces the number of trucks you need to operate for effective waste collection or disposal.
Reducing the fleet size contributes directly to a decline in carbon emissions and toxic pollutants. It eventually helps achieve sustainable waste management with minimal environmental pollution, opening the door to improved public health.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I improve my waste management system?
Here are some general tips you can follow for it.
- Spread public awareness about the importance of waste collection to make your work easier.
- Invest in recycling infrastructure.
- Adopt environment-friendly waste management approaches.
- Record the lessons learned from the previous mistakes to finetune your waste management process.
What are the major challenges that developing countries face in solid waste collection and management?
Following are a few challenges that developing countries generally face.
- Poor infrastructure and facilities
- Insufficient funds to improve the processes
- Lack of awareness about safe waste management practices
- Negligence of waste management rules and regulations
What are the features to look for in route optimization software?
Here are the functionalities you can seek:
- Custom route optimization and readjustments
- Real-time tracking of vehicles and drivers
- Proof of collection
- Analytics and Reporting
- Easy integration with existing systems
Stay on Top of Your Waste Collection Routes With DynoRoute
Optimizing routes to collect waste is indeed an onerous job and poses various challenges, as discussed above. Nevertheless, you can always overcome them with route optimization software and plan the best routes for effective waste management.
If you are also looking for a cutting-edge route planner for your business, DynoRoute can be your go-to choice. Packed with algorithm-based route mapping, custom stops, and a user-friendly interface, it is a one-stop solution to all your routing problems.
Want to reduce costs and boost efficiency with optimized routes with DynoRoute?