Medical Waste Vehicle Routing Problem – A Review of Objectives, Collection and Transportation Strategies, and Algorithms

Wensi LI; Theam Foo NG; Haidi IBRAHIM; Shir Li WANG

doi:10.7307/ptt.v37i3.711

Authors

Wensi LI Universiti Sains Malaysia, Centre for Global Sustainability Studies; Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Department of Economics and Management
Theam Foo NG Universiti Sains Malaysia, Centre for Global Sustainability Studies
Haidi IBRAHIM Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Shir Li WANG Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Faculty of Computing and Meta-Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7307/ptt.v37i3.711

Keywords:

medical waste, vehicle routing problem, collection and transportation, sustainable development

Abstract

There has been a dramatic increase in medical waste due to rapid urbanisation and population growth, especially the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak. Inadequate medical waste collection and transportation will negatively impact sustainable development. Consequently, the government is confronted with a substantial challenge, and it is an urgent issue that must be resolved. This paper provides a comprehensive examination of the medical waste vehicle routing problem through a search on the Web of Science and it commences with a descriptive analysis, followed by a summary of objective functions from two perspectives: single and bi/multi-objective functions. Following that, it presents and highlights practical strategies for the medical waste vehicle routing problem, which may aid in preventing the occurrence of major disasters in the future. Subsequently, the algorithms employed are summarised. Finally, a discussion of the findings and future research directions is presented. The result revealed that sustainable multi-objective functions, the adoption of various collection and transportation strategies, and the utilisation of approximate and hybrid algorithms need to be explored further. This paper aims to provide a roadmap for decision-makers in the domain of medical waste collection and transportation.

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