Case Study: City of Charlotte achieves 3x faster route planning and safer, tailored waste collection with OptimoRoute

Waste Collection Service Finds the Features They Need to Get the Job Done

The City of Charlotte runs a high-volume, point-to-point waste collection service (bulky waste, small business waste, dead animal pickup) that operates five days a week with 15 vehicles completing up to 2,000 collections per day. The Solid Waste Services Department faced challenges with an unsupported, locally installed routing system that suffered outages, required manual configuration, and forced planners to spend as much as six man-hours daily preparing routes. In 2018 they implemented OptimoRoute’s cloud-based route optimization software to meet these complex needs.

OptimoRoute delivered an automated, waste-specific routing solution — including a one-click "avoid U-turns and avoid crossing the street" option, vehicle specialty assignments, easy insertion of extra stops, and integration with the city’s work-order and driver tablet systems. The result: planning became roughly 3x faster, with daily planning time falling from about 6 man-hours to 2 man-hours (two users’ time reduced from up to 3 hours to no more than 1 hour), safer and more efficient routes, and a fully automated end-to-end workflow.

City of Charlotte

Matt Farrand

Systems Business Specialist