Municipal Solid Waste Knowledge Platform

The  memorandum on the best management practices for optimizing waste collection routes was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with support from SCS Engineers on behalf of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition Municipal Solid Waste Initiative.

The memorandum was part of the implementation of the work plan for the city of Amman. The memorandum was sent to staff of the Greater Amman Municipality associated with waste management in the city.

As part of the activities of the work plan, the City of Amman wishes to improve waste collection coverage and efficiency by optimizing its waste collection routes. In particular, the City would like to explore different
strategies for optimizing collection routes. This memorandum provides a summary of the best management practices used to optimize waste collection routes and takes into account the current condition of waste collection in the City.
This memorandum is based on research done on the internet and through interviews with waste collection routing experts. The research showed that currently the best management practices used to optimize waste collection routing are based on strategies developed in the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the 1970s and are still used for developing routes by hand and as a basis for computer models. The research showed that there is an abundance of academic literature that deals with optimizing collection routes, but the mathematical models proposed are site-specific and limited to being academic exercises.