2011 URISA Student Competition, Student Paper Awards–Third Place Paper

Laura Reading

“Ecomaine, a regional non-profit waste management company in Portland, Maine, sought to reduce transportation costs to member communities that transport recycling in 30 square yard collection roll-off containers (known as “silver bullets”) to the Ecomaine recycling facility. This study objective was to minimize transportation costs by identifying the minimum number of consolidation locations to serve all silver bullets in fewer than twenty miles and the minimum number of locations to serve all silver bullets in fewer than thirty miles using the location-allocation analysis tool in GIS.

Left, Scenario 1, five facilities serve all silver bullets in fewer than 32 km; right, Scenario 2, three facilities serve all silver bullets in fewer than 48 km. One consolidation location is not shown in either Scenario because it is an outlier.

“The economic benefits of using the new consolidation locations were calculated by determining the net cost savings based on the reduction in distance traveled. The environmental benefits were also calculated by determining the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions based on the reduction in distance traveled.”

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