Towards integrated management of municipal solid wastes in urban settlements through geographic information system based applications

Abstract

Abstract In the last few decades with rapid growth in world population and industrial revolution, the generation and consumption of goods has increased resulting in increased production of waste materials. In Alexandria, Egypt, uncollected solid waste causes, bad smell, drain block- age, invites scavengers, public annoyance and become good breeding site for insects. This study analysis the transformative effects of incorporating geographic information system technologies into the management of municipal waste through various elements of integrated municipal solid wastes management system in Ibrahimia, Alexandria, Egypt as a case study; starting with generation of solid waste, going to collection and finally routing to transition station. Using application Geographic information system as a tool in solid waste management leads to solving the gap between manual inefficient current solid waste management and needed, the current one is random and uncountable. The study analyzes solid waste management from spatial perspectives. This study concluded that Geographic Information System tools can be sufficiently applicable in integrated solid waste management not only in Ibrahimia or existing cities but also at any place, especially in urban planning for new cities, especially in estimated generation, optimizing locations of solid waste bins and route optimization efficiencies.