A service network design model for multimodal municipal solid waste transport

A modal shift from road transport towards inland water or rail transport could reduce the total Green House Gas emissions and societal impact associated with Municipal Solid Waste management. However, this shift will take place only if demonstrated to be at least cost-neutral for the decision makers. In this paper we examine the feasibility of using multimodal truck and inland water transport, instead of truck transport, for shipping separated household waste in bulk from collection centres to waste treatment facilities. We present a dynamic tactical planning model that minimises the sum of transportation costs, external environmental and societal costs. The Municipal Solid Waste Service Network Design Problem allocates Municipal Solid Waste volumes to transport modes and determines transportation frequencies over a planning horizon. This generic model is applied to a real-life case in Flanders, the northern region of Belgium. Computational results show that multimodal truck and inland water transportation can compete with truck transport by avoiding or reducing transhipments and using barge convoys. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.