Solving a routing problem of collect infectious healthcare waste with stochastic demand: case of Sfax Governorate in Tunisia

摘要

This paper deals with a real stochastic infectious healthcare waste (IHW) collection problem. The waste was collected from all hospitals in the governorate of Sfax (Tunisia) to an incinerator. The reduction of medical infectious waste represents a challenge for Tunisia's commitments in healthcare institutions. This problem is considered as a Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand (CVRPSD). Two combined approaches are proposed: (1) a combination of exact method with a Monte Carlo simulation, (2) a combination of the same simulation tools with Clarke and Wright (C&W) saving. These proposed approaches provide a set of solutions which help the decision-makers of the Sfax municipality to perform an adequate IHW transportation routing system. The approaches results give one common solution that appears with a high frequency using an exact method despite the stochastic character of demands. The (C&W) heuristic provides good results in a reasonable time.