The effects of internet of things and industrial revolution 4.0 on urban waste management: a case study of Isfahan city

The waste collection problem is one of the critical problems in today’s world, and ignoring this issue or the existence of a fault in this system can cause huge costs and damages. The advanced countries in the world are trying to improve the efficiency of their waste collection system with modern methods to solve the challenges of this system. The application of Internet of Things (IoT) and RFID tags is an interesting field of research in urban waste management systems. This study develops three models for urban waste collecting. The ST model is a traditional and static method currently used in many cities. The DSA is a semi-modern model based on greedy algorithms in which RFID tags are installed on garbage bins. The DAIoT model is a modern system working with IoT equipment installed on trucks and waste bins. This model uses a combination of greedy algorithm and harmony search metaheuristics. The main purpose of this study is to schedule the waste collection system and vehicle routing to reduce trucks' gas emissions and empty garbage bins on time. The results on Isfahan city show that compared to the traditional ST model, the DSA model causes a 2% reduction in gas emissions and a 6.7% reduction in the number of required trucks and improves system performance in critical situations. The DAIoT model, as the best model, causes a 33.9% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 60% reduction in the number of trucks compared to the traditional ST model.