Measuring the performance of solid waste collection vehicles using global positioning systems

Typically, the performance of municipal solid waste collections systems has been measured using information gleaned from trucks logs or by monitoring collection operations in the field using time and motion studies. This paper reports on a recent research project in Hamilton, Ontario in which five municipal solid waste collection vehicles were equipped with global positioning systems (GPS). The study vehicles included three garbage packers, a wet/dry co-collection pilot vehicle, and a blue box recycling truck. The vehicles were assigned to collection routes in urban, suburban, and rural areas of the city. The purpose of the study was to record the movements of each of the vehicles over the course of one year, to measure the efficiency of the different vehicles on the different routes, and to demonstrate potential operational and planning level uses for the collected data. The data show that there are significant differences in the performance of the vehicles on different routes. The study found the reliability and the accuracy of the GPS data are suitable for solid waste planning purposes and that data collection using a GPS is a significant improvement over traditional data collection methods.