CHAPTER 4

The Near Optimal Siting of Hazardous Waste (Used Lead Acid Battery (ULAB)) Collection Facilities in The Republic of Mauritius Using the ESMVERE Cplex UFL problem solver algorithm

Abstract/Preface

The Republic of Mauritius has been generating some 1100 tons of Used Lead Acid Batteries (ULABSs) annually, and it keeps on increasing over the years. This can be very damaging and risky to the environment and the community at large. This research considers the practical scenario of a near optimal reverse logistics network of Hazardous Waste (Used Lead Acid Batteries (ULABSs)) in the country. To the best of our knowledge for two decades now, there has not been enough research about the level of lead poisoning contamination from the ULABs in the Mauritian environment. Research or efforts to cautiously eliminate ULABs, which are one of the main causes of lead poisoning, are missing in literature. A heuristic solution technique, an Integer binary linear program that solves the Uncapacitated Facility Location Problem (UFL) is developed. It is used to develop a near optimal reverse logistics network to facilitate the simulation of optimal siting of ULAB collection facilities. The formular of the UFL problem is extended with the Euclidean distance formula thus replacing the use of the common and laborious distance matrix, to the use of GPS co-ordinate point input. To the best of our knowledge all known prior algorithms solving the UFL problem, k-median and p-median problem used the input of a distance matrix. A real-world case in which the newly developed algorithm solution is simulated using real world data, while an actual realistic instance is created and used while the results are illustrated using ArcGIS maps, is the main contribution of this paper. It has proved useful in establishing a near optimal reverse logistics network for ULABs.