Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

APPLICATION OF GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES IN OPTIMAL ALLOCATION OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE COLLECTION BINS

J. Ramachandran, Balaji Kannan, R. Kumaraperumal2 and K. P. Raghunath

Abstract

Municipal solid waste disposal is an enormous concern in developing countries across the world, as poverty, population growth, and high urbanization rates combine with ineffectual and underfunded governments to prevent efficient management of wastes. Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are such computerized geospatial technologies, which can be integrated to get optimal solutions for sustainable management of solid waste. This study has emanated from the obvious problems of population and city expansion as a result of rural migration to urban centers; increase in solid waste generation as a consequence of overpopulation; distance of location of waste bins from residences which encourages indiscriminate waste disposal at illegal locations; insufficient dumpsites leading to a creation of patches of dumpsites all over the places; and an inadequate organized system of waste handling for a major part of the city. The study in particular, focuses on determining optimal location of waste bins in selected ward of Coimbatore city using geospatial technologies. The study has identified the various locations for allocating new waste bins which would be adequate for the disposal of the waste generated in the particular ward.