  A real-world newspaper distribution problem with recycling policy is tackled
in this work. In order to meet all the complex restrictions contained in such a
problem, it has been modeled as a rich vehicle routing problem, which can be
more specifically considered as an asymmetric and clustered vehicle routing
problem with simultaneous pickup and deliveries, variable costs and forbidden
paths (AC-VRP-SPDVCFP). This is the first study of such a problem in the
literature. For this reason, a benchmark composed by 15 instances has been also
proposed. In the design of this benchmark, real geographical positions have
been used, located in the province of Bizkaia, Spain. For the proper treatment
of this AC-VRP-SPDVCFP, a discrete firefly algorithm (DFA) has been developed.
This application is the first application of the firefly algorithm to any rich
vehicle routing problem. To prove that the proposed DFA is a promising
technique, its performance has been compared with two other well-known
techniques: an evolutionary algorithm and an evolutionary simulated annealing.
Our results have shown that the DFA has outperformed these two classic
meta-heuristics.
