C2Logix provided assistance, as a subcontractor, to Gershman, Brickner & Bratton and the Northeast Maryland Disposal Authority (NMWDA) to re-routing the City of Baltimore (City) residential trash and recycling collection system.

The NMWDA and the Baltimore City Department of Public Works contracted C2Logix and Gershman, Brickner & Bratton for the re-routing as a Service Bureau project, This approach provided the City with optimized routes to implement allowing the substantial cost savings of over $6 million to be realized as quickly as possible.

The City, with an estimated population of 630,000 and 200,000 households serviced by Department of Public Works trucks and crews, previously collected refuse twice per week and recycling bi-weekly utilizing approximately 119 trucks operating six days per week.

The Service Bureau project included refining the geocoding of the City’s customers on the GIS maps and geocoding and identification of customers serviced in alleys. In addition, the street centerline data was expanded to add alleys and travel attributes (such as speeds, one-ways, overpasses/underpasses, etc.) that was not included in the City GIS baseline. City historical service data was used for set-out weights. Field observations were also conducted to assess service performance.

Five alternative scenarios of new routes, collection days, workday lengths, recycling participation and equipment allocation were analyzed for their impact on operating costs. The alternative scenarios were presented to the NMWDA, Mayor, City management and union officials. The scenario for once-per-week refuse and recycling collection, referred to as One Plus One by the City, was selected and successfully implemented in 2009. The new routes utilized 85 collection vehicles, four days per week, with ten hour shifts per day.

C2Logix combined veteran experience in managing waste operations and extensive knowledge in utilizing route optimization software, provided a solution to the City that increased service levels for recycling while significantly reducing costs.