GIS AND REMOTE SENSING APPLICATION IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN URBAN AREAS OF DEVELOPING NATIONS
BY: SALLY PATRICIA ASIYO
Dandora Dumping site- Hellen Pow, The Daily mail 23/5/14
Garbage heap outside Kibra CDF offices-Citizen Digital
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DECLARATION
I declare that this paper review is my original work and has not been presented for a degree
in any other university or any other award .
ASIYO SALLY PATRICIA………………………………DATE………………………….
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………………. 2
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………….... 5
LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………...6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT…………………………………………………….………...... 7
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………..8
1.1 Objective……………………………………………………...………………………. .9
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND………………………………………9
2.1 What is solid waste…………………………………………………………….………...9
2.2 Types of solid waste………………………………………………….…………….. …..9
2.3 Causes of poor waste management……………………………….……………………..10
2.4 Problems associated with poor urban waste management……………………………... 11
CHAPTER 3: GIS AND REMOTE SENSING APPLICATION IN SOLID
WASTE MANAGEMENT
3.1What is GIS…………………………………………………………………………………..12
3.2 Route planning and dustbin location………………………………………………………...13
3.3Siting processing facilities…………………………………………………………….……...14
3.4Landfill site selection…………………………………………………………………………15
3.5Limitations of GIS in waste management…………………………………………………….18
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CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
4.1Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….…19
4.2Recommendation…………………………………………………………………………...19
REFERRENCE
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ABSTRACT
Waste management has become a serious problem in major urban cities in the world today due to
the increasing population. There are numerous cases of outbreak of diseases through water
contamination, pollution and unpleasant odour due to the mismanagement of solid waste in urban
areas of developing nations. Most municipal governments have had to admit their inability to cope
with the problem. An expression of the problem is the common sights of refuse that often threaten
the roads impassable to traffic. The aesthetic looks of cities are much affected apart from the likely
health hazard posed by this state of affairs. Waste disposal problem often results from the inability
of municipal governments to match the collection and disposal of wastes with the generation of
wastes. Sometimes the problem could be traced to lack of a suitable site for disposal and treatment.
This review paper aims to show how GIS and Remote Sensing have been used in different parts
of the globe to solve the solid waste management menace. This paper reviews the literature on the
different stages of waste management; collection, transportation and final disposal and how GIS
and Remote Sensing have been used in each stage. The result from the review shows that GIS is a
reliable and cost effective method of managing wastes.
Keywords: Remote Sensing, GIS, Solid waste.
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Dustbin location in Kolar, India……………………………………………………....14
Figure 2: Waste collection routes in Palestine…………………………………………………………………………14
Figure3: Waste disposal site Wukro, Ethiopia………………………………………………….16
Figure4: Dumping site suitability map Bahir Dar Town, North Western Ethiopia………….….17
Figure5: Suitable dumping site in Palestine…………………………………………………….18
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank the Almighty God for enabling me to reach this far in my academics.
I also wish to acknowledge the support given to me by the School of Natural Resources and
Environmental studies of Karatina University.
I feel greatly indebted to my supervisor Dr. Margaret Waweru for her availability and guidance
during consultations and for her rapid response when I needed her. Special thanks go to my family
for their encouragement and prayers.
Last but not least to my friends and colleagues who gave me moral support and in one way or
another contributed to the success of my review paper, may God bless you.
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CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION
The twentieth century saw a dramatic increase in the production of urban solid waste due to
population increase, reflecting unprecedented global levels of economic activity. Management of
solid waste is one of the challenges facing urban areas in the world. This is because an aggregation
of human settlements has the potential to produce a large amount of solid waste. Collection,
transfer and disposal of such waste have been generally assumed by municipal governments in
developed countries. The format varies, however, as in most urban areas, garbage is collected
either by a governmental agency or private contractor, and this constitutes a basic and expected
government function in such contexts.
Municipal solid waste management has thus become a major issue of concern for many under-
developed nations, especially due to population increase (Bartone, 2000). The problem is
compounded as many nations continue to urbanize rapidly. For instance, 30-50% of population in
most developing countries is urban (Thomas-Hope, 1998) and in many African countries, the
growth rate of urban areas exceeds 4% (Senkoro, 2003).
Although developing nations do spend between 20% and 40% of municipal revenues on waste
management (Thomas-Hope, 1998; Schubeler, 1996; Bartone, 2000), they are often unable to keep
pace with the scope of the problem (European International Journal of Science and Technology
ISSN: 2304-9693 www.eijst.org.uk). Senkoro (2003) added that when the governments of African
countries were asked by the World Health Organization to prioritize their environmental health
concerns, results revealed that while solid waste was identified as the second most important
problem (after water quality), less than 30% of urban populations have access to “proper and
regular garbage removal”. Developing countries thus have solid waste management problems that
differ from those found in fully industrialized countries. Indeed, the very composition of their
waste is different from that of developed nations. This therefore necessitates the need for better
waste management.
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1.1: OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main aim of this paper is to present how GIS and Remote Sensing have been used to solve
waste management problems from collection to landfill site selection.
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.2 What is solid waste?
Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is products for the market) for which the
initial user has no further use in terms of his/ her own purposes of production, transformation or
consumption, and of which he she wants to dispose .Wastes may be generated during the extraction
of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, and other
human activities. Residuals, recycled or reused at the place of generation are excluded (United
Nations Statistics Division, Glossary of Environment Statistics).
Solid waste management therefore refers to the collection, treatment and disposal of this solid
material that is discarded because it has served its purpose or is no longer useful.
2.3 Types of solid waste
There are two main types of solid wastes defined by modern systems of waste management. These
are defined by location, notably;
a) Rural wastes
Wastes in rural areas are mainly organic materials. It is not always necessary to collect this
type of waste. This is because in rural areas much of the refuse is re-used (e.g. feed for
animals, manure) and solid waste will often be less of a problem.
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b) Urban wastes
These mainly occur in urban areas. They could further be subdivided into:
Municipal wastes which include household waste, Commercial waste, and
Demolition waste.
Biomedical waste includes clinical waste
Hazardous waste includes industrial waste
Special hazardous waste includes radioactive waste, explosive waste, Electronic
waste ( e-waste)
2.4 Causes of poor waste management
Municipal solid waste management is one of the major problems facing city planners all over the
world. The problem is especially severe in most developing country cities where increased
urbanization, poor planning, and lack of adequate resources contribute to the poor state of
municipal solid waste management (Obirih-Opareh & Post, 2002; Mato, 1999; Doan, 1998;
Mwanthi et al., 1997).
Population increase
In Africa, rapid urban growth since the 1960s has put pressure on land resources within the areas
surrounding cities, and has led to increased generation of waste. The problem is aggravated by the
open dump nature of disposing waste especially in the slum areas of most African cities (Hammer,
2003). Traditionally, administrations in African states permitted uncontrolled dumping in
abandoned quarry sites with no provision for sanitary landfill, causing huge health problems
(Martin, 1992; Hammer, 2003).
Inadequate funds and poor administration
A large part of the problem is inadequate financial and data resources for waste management
including site selection and management (Mwanthi et al., 1997). Public administration of waste
collection is also inadequate for a variety of reasons which led most administrations to privatize
the service, where private cost recovery seems to indicate a better solution (Obirih-Opareh & Post,
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2002). These problems have resulted in serious environmental and social complications (Arinola
& Arinola, 1995; Moore et al., 2003).
2.5 Problems associated with poor urban waste management
Generally, one to two thirds of the solid wastes generated in the cities of the developing countries
are not collected (World Resources Institute et al., 1996). As a result, the uncollected waste, which
is often also mixed with human and animal excreta, is dumped indiscriminately along the streets
and in drains, improper Municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal causes hazards to inhabitants and
the environment such as:
Environmental Effects
Pollution from plastic bags is one sort of solid waste exemplifying unexpected environmental
hazards. More than being a visual pollution the plastic bag pollution is associated with several
environmental problems; the waste will block gutters and drains, resulting in storm water
problems. Consumption of the plastic by livestock can cause death. For example the plastic bags
are non-biodegradable therefore their presence in agricultural welds decreases soil productivity.
Plastic bags left in nature have been connected to spread malaria because they provide ideal
breeding habitats for the malaria-carrying mosquitoes when the plastic has collected rainwater.
Then during burning of the plastic toxic gases like furan and dioxin will be released and unhealthy
residues including lead and cadmium remain on the ground (Njeru, J. 2006).
Effects on human health
Improper waste disposal have been implicated in the transmission of many infectious diseases
including cholera, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, polio, cryptosporidiosis, and ascariasis. WHO
(2004) estimates that about 1.8 million people die annually from diarrhoeal diseases where 90%
are children under five, mostly in developing countries .For example in Kenya 3,459 cases of
Cholera were reported with at least 72 deaths (Ministry of Health,2015), this was attributed to poor
sanitation as a result of poor waste management especially in slums (IFCR, 24 Feb 2015).
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Improper waste disposal gives many infections the ideal opportunity to spread such as mosquitoes
which may find breeding sites in plastic bottles which collect water after a downpour hence
increasing the spread of malaria.
Ascariasis is another parasitic infection. Up to 10% of the population of the developing world is
infected with intestinal worms –a large percentage of which is caused by Ascaris. The infection
occurs with greatest frequency in tropical and subtropical regions, and in any areas with inadequate
sanitation as a result of poor waste management (World Health Organization, 2004).. Worldwide,
severe Ascaris infections cause approximately 60,000 deaths per year, mainly in children.
CHAPTER 3: GIS APPLICATION IN SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
3.1 What is GIS?
A geographic information system is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking,
integrating, manipulating, analyzing and displaying data related to positions on the Earth’s surface.
Typically, a Geographic Information System is used for handling maps of one kind or another.
These might be represented as several different layers where each layer holds data about a
particular kind of feature .Each feature is linked to a position on the graphical image on a map and
a record in an attribute table.GIS allows us to view , understand, question, interpret, and visualize
data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports
and charts .Therefore it helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at data in a
way that is quickly understood and shared.
It is observed that solid waste management can be bifurcated into two main phases. One is the
waste management in the area where it is generated second is the management of waste at dumping
grounds (Moiz Ahmed Shaikh, 2006). These can broadly be classified as
Route planning for waste collection vehicles
Sitting processing facilities
Landfill site selection
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GIS has been applied in almost all these stages of waste management as follows:
3.2 Route planning and dustbin location
The problem of vehicle routing is a common one: each vehicle must travel in the whole area and
visit all the waste bins, in a way that minimizes the total travel cost: most often distance or time
but also fuel consumption, CO2emissions etc.
1. Using GIS 3D modeling in the island of Santo Antao, Republic of Cape Verde, an area
with intense relief, up to 52% fuel savings was achieved when determining the best route
collection (Tavares et al. ).
2. Apaydin and Gonullu utilized RouteViewPro™ to achieve a 24.6% reduction in distance
and 44.3% in total time travelled in the city of Trabzon, Turkey. Using Waste Route
Software a 10% reduction in the number of collection trips was achieved in the area of
Elgin, Illinois, USA. Ghose et al., on the other hand, used ArcGIS® Network Analyst to
successfully minimize the distance and cost of waste transportation to landfill in the city
of Ansasol, India.
3. In Kolar Municipality India, best alternative dustbin collection site for municipal solid
waste were identified using inputs from Remote Sensing & Global positioning system
(GPS) and analysis was achieved using GIS tools, figure 1. Various parameters involved
in the selection of SW (solid waste) collection site like geology, land use, etc were used.
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FIGURE
1: Dustbin location in Kolar, India.
Figure 2: In Palestine GIS was used to determine the best waste collection routes,
Figure2:
waste collection routes in Palestine .Source-Eng. Liana Nasser
Organization: GIZ Palestine -Program: Solid Waste Management
3.3 Sitting processing facilities
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In a study carried out by Bergon et al (.2010), 3D visualization and GIS were used to produce a
digital city model for the Star City, West Virginia to allow government officials and managers to
develop sustainable planning initiatives and planning for solid waste and recycling facilities and
identifying issues such as underserved populations and illegal dumping.
Chatila(2008) , developed a GIS system for natural resources management and recycling of solid
waste in Marjeyoun, Southern Lebanon. A recycling programme was developed based on solid
waste sampling and analysis of collection systems.
.Spectral analysis of the bands An airborne hyperspectral image of the clay-capped Mixed Waste
Management Facility at the Savannah River Site in USA at a spatial resolution of 2 × 2 m was
used to locate potential areas of failure of the facility.
3.4 Landfill site selection and monitoring
Disposal in landfill is the waste destination method with the largest demand for land, while land
is a resource whose availability has been decreasing in urban systems.
Earlier studies have shown that application of Remote Sensing in combination with GIS analytical
tools have significant importance for landfill site selection (Ostir etal., 2003) and (Zamorano etal.,
2008). To select a potential waste disposal site different input criteria must be included; for
instance, in previous studies such as ((Ahmed etal., 2011), (Moeinaddini etal., 2010) and (Al-
jarrah,Abu-Qdaia, 2006)), used surface water, ground water, faults, land use, land cover,
permeability of soil, depth of soil and slope as criteria for land fill site selection. In addition GIS
spatial operations were also utilized to select the dumping sites; for instance, digitizing, buffering,
overlay, query and network analysis (Sani etal., 2010) as sited in (Adeofun etal., 2011).
Site suitability maps were used in Wukro town Tigray, Ethiopia. Results indicated that 12
dumping sites were appropriate and they were further ranked against their suitability in terms of
wind direction, proximity to settlement area and distance from the center of the town. Finally, two
sites were considered the best suitable for dumping site (A.A., Mohammedshum etal., 2014)
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The following map shows the suitable waste disposal sites in Wukro town Tigray,Ethiopia.
Figure 3: waste disposal site Wukro, Ethiopia
Figure 4: dumping site suitability map Bahir Dar Town, North
Western Ethiopia source African Journal of Environmental
Science and Technology
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In Palestine a 3D model was used to identify illegal dumping sites at the same time come
up with the most suitable disposal site. Different parameters were used such as, Built up
areas, sensitive areas, land use etc.GIS spatial operations were also utilized to select the
dumping sites; for instance, digitizing, buffering, overlay, query and network analysis
Figure
5: Suitable dumping site in Palestine-Source-Eng. Liana Nasser
Organization: GIZ Palestine -Program: Solid Waste Management
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3.5 LIMITATIONS OF USING GIS TECHNOLOGY IN WASTE MANAGEMENT
Innitially, it can be time consuming
Data acquisition is one of the most time consuming aspects of using GIS in environmental planning
especially waste management in many instances may already be available but must be formatted
so that it is compatible with the GIS software. In the event you have to acquire new data, it will
take a lot of time and money.
Insufficient data
Especially true in developing countries where the available data is very scarce and access to the
data is very poor and tiring. In addition, the existing data are not reliable, not collected, stored and
disseminated systematically. An overwhelming majority of published literature and data on waste
management is mainly in European nations. Another issue is that a majority of the available data
is focused on broad environmental issues, such as habitat destruction and preservation.
limited in its use
GIS cannot be applied in solid waste generation because of the large fluctuations in solid waste
generation in space and time and the dynamic nature of urban areas generate several difficulties in
determining the current solid waste generation patterns.
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CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
4.1 CONCLUSION
The role of GIS in solid waste management is very large as many aspects of its planning and
operations are highly dependent on spatial data. In general, GIS plays a key role in maintaining
account data to facilitate all waste management operations. In this manner, aspects such as
customer service; analyzing optimal locations for transfer stations; planning routes for vehicles
transporting waste from residential, commercial and industrial customers to transfer stations and
from transfer stations to landfills; locating new landfills and monitoring the landfill, are important.
GIS is a tool that not only reduces time and cost of site selection, but also provides a digital data
bank for future monitoring programme of the site.
4.2 RECOMMENDATION
Waste management as part of public planning is an extremely complex subject. Therefore
Geographic information Systems (GIS) can be a valuable tool in an environmental planners’
toolbox, saving time, money and headaches when planning collection routes, siting processing
facilities, as well as choosing locations for landfills and planning what will become of the landfill
once it is full. As GIS technology has become easier to use and more cost-effective I would
recommend more and more government agencies especially in developing nations to employ GIS
professionals and embrace the use of this new technology.
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REFERENCE
A.A., Mohammedshum et al., (2014) Application of Geographic Information System and Remote
Sensing in effective solid waste Disposal Sites Selection in Wukro Town Tigray, Ethiopia .The
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Volume XL-2
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S. Leao et al./Resources, Conservation and Recycling33 (2001) 289–313Assessing the demand of
solid waste disposal in urban region by urban dynamics modeling in a GIS environment.
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Senkoro, H. (2003). Solid Waste Management in Africa: A WHO /AFRO Perspective. Paper 1,
presented in Dar es Salaam at the CWG Workshop, March 2003. Retrieved electronically:
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