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

2

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………………………….

3

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

4

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

4.1Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….…19

4.2Recommendation…………………………………………………………………………...19

REFERRENCE

5

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.

6

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

7

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.

8

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.

9

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.

10

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,

11

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).

12

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

13

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.

14

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

15

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)

16

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

17

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

18

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.

19

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.

20

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

International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences,

Volume XL-2

Bartone, C.R. (1995). The role of the private sector in developing countries: Keys to success.

Paper presented at ISWA Conference on Waste Management - Role of the Private Sector,

Singapore, 24-25 September 1995.

CHRISTOS CHALKIAS, KATIA LASARIDI, A GIS based model for the optimization of

municipal solid waste collection: the case study of Nikea, Athens, Greece Department of

Geography Harokopeio University of Athens 70, El. Venizelou str. GREECE

Foday Pinka Sankoh et al.,(2013) Environmental and Health Impact of Solid Waste Disposal in

Developing Cities: A Case Study of Granville Brook Dumpsite, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Martin Kajokare Karija, QI Shihua, Yata Samuel Lukaw (2013) The Impact of Poor Municipal

Solid Waste Management Practices and Sanitation Status on Water Quality and Public Health in

Cities of the Least Developed Countries: the Case of Juba, South Sudan. International Journal of

Applied Science and Technology,.Vol 3 No. 4; 2013

Mwanthi, M.A., Nyabola, L.O., & Tenambergen, E.D. 1997. The present and future status of

municipal solid waste management in Nairobi. International Journal of Environmental Health

Research, 7, 345-353.

Obirih-Opareh, N., & Post, J. (2002). Quality assessment of public and private modes of solid

waste collection in Accra, Ghana. Habitat International, 26, 95- 112

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.

21

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:

http://www.skat.ch/sf-web/activities/ws/cwg/pdf/cwg-01.pdf: Accessed on 07/05/06

Thomas-Hope, E. (1998). Solid waste management: critical issues for developing countries.

Kingston: Canoe Press.

World Resources Institute, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Development

Program, The World Bank (1996). World Resources 1996-97 - The Urban Environment, Oxford

University Press, Oxford.