Incorporating rail transport into the waste flow and processing chain for sustainable waste handling

Modern-day policies promote sustainable development and ubiquitous transition towards circular economy. In waste management, climate impacts may be mitigated by reducing waste production amounts, efficient waste processing and low-emission transport. While focusing on the latter, this research addresses integration of rail transport into existing waste flows and proposes a novel mixed integer programming model. The model’s design addresses important technical requirements and related conditions. The paper describes the trade-offs between the current operation of the transport network and the potential for intermodal approach to waste transportation. This framework is applied to a real example from a European Union country. It is concluded that the railway network configuration, the waste distribution density across the analyzed territory, and the distance from loading hubs from processing facilities play a significant role in the economic viability of rail transport. Among the specifics of rail transport, the model addresses route planning with passing through nodes twice, i.e., for unloading and reloading containers, as well as recommendation for reducing the loaded volumes at the last node on the route due to time–cost reasons.