GIS and Ant Colony Optimization for Hazardous Medical Waste Management in Tunisia

This study examines the issues of managing hazardous medical waste management by combining Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) to tackle complex routing problems, particularly the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). A case study in Tunisia illustrates how this integrated approach enhances the collection of hazardous medical waste collection across the GIS-identified sites and 174 public hospitals in Tunisia, reducing travel distances and improving vehicle efficiency. The findings indicate that the CVRPACO method effectively optimizes hazardous medical waste collection routes while ensuring vehicle capacity constraints and distance reduction across 174 public hospitals and five treatment centers.