Design of a Strategy to Provide the Collection Service of Urban Solid Waste in Communities Without IT: A Case Study of Mexico

This work aimed to design a strategy for providing a collection service of urban solid waste in communities without it, using a case study in Sombrerete, Zacatecas, Mexico. The service is provided to the municipal seat and 17 of the 173 communities, resulting in a collection coverage of 10%. Information provided by the Cleaning Department of Sombrerete was collected and analyzed on the number of collection vehicles, communities served, and final waste disposal sites. Communities without urban solid waste collection and disposal services were identified. The strategy was designed to increase the collection coverage using geographic information systems, vehicle routing problem tools, and territory sectorization. Waste collection routes were developed for 11 sectors without service, and final waste disposal sites were evaluated based on environmental protection criteria of the Mexican Official Standard. The technical and economic feasibility of the strategy were analyzed. The results obtained were the design of the collection routes strategy to increase the coverage to 100% in Sombrerete. The designed strategy was feasible since it did not require the purchase of waste collection vehicles and hiring more staff. Approximately MXN 1000 (≈USD 54, EUR 47) in economic benefits were achieved weekly.