Optimization of inbound vehicle routes in the collection of bio-medical wastes

In Multi-specialty hospitals, the quantity of accumulation of Bio-Medical Waste (BMW) is enormous when compared to clinics. The safe and timely disposal of BMW is very essential to avoid harmful effects to humans and environment. In this article, the inbound logistics involved in the collection of Bio-Medical Waste at a Private Multi-Specialty Hospital located in Coimbatore which contains 59 wards has been improved to avoid time delay. An optimized vehicle routing model has been framed for a set of 6 dedicated vehicles with the objective to minimize the time taken during the collection of BMW. For this purpose a mathematical model is generated and solved using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm (PSO). The results infer that, by following the optimized vehicle routes, the time delay is totally eliminated and in addition the time taken for collecting the BMW is reduced by 42%, i.e. from 6 h to 3 h 46 min. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advances in Materials Research-2019.

Automated summary

This article discusses the improvement of inbound logistics for Bio-Medical Waste collection at a private multi-specialty hospital, which resulted in the minimization of collection time by optimizing vehicle routes.