An optimization approach to the transportation of hospital waste and the location of incinerators in Turkey

Abstract

According to the bylaw of the Environmental Ministry Turkey the disposal ofhospital wastes `which have infectious waste characteristics` should be realised byincineration. Since the construction and operation costs of incinerators however are veryhigh, the capacity and the location of incinerators must be determined carefully. From apractical point of view it is not possible to build an incinerator for every hospital not onlyfor an economical reasons but also due to the fact that wastes produced from one hospitalare not enough to maintain the incinerator burning continuously, something essential forproper operation. Because of that, hospital wastes must be carried to central incinerators.The purpose of this study is to determine the optimum number, capacity and thelocation of incinerators, to determine the routes the wastes must follow from each source tothe incinerators and to determine which to assign to individual incinerators to beconstructed. This problem is analysed within an optimization framework and through anoptimization model, using different scenarios. It is concluded, from the results of thescenarios, that no single optimal solution exists. However some general observations arecommon to almost all scenarios investigated. The scenarios and their result are explained indetails in this thesis.Keywords: Optimization, Hospital Waste, Incinerator, Transportation