ASSESSMENT OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND OPTIMIZATION ROUTE FOR BIRBIR TOWN, GAMO ZONE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The amount and complexity of municipal solid waste is on the rise globally, as economic development, urbanization, and improved living standards in cities continue to increase, all at the detriment of the natural environment. Improper solid waste management is a problem in most cities in developing countries, endangering human and animal health and causing economic, environmental and biological damage. The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the municipal solid waste management system of Birbir town and identify an optimized route. Both primary and secondary data were utilized to achieve this objective. The samples were collected from 135 households for 7 days from selected residential, commercial, institutional, public bin as well as street sweeping using a systematic random sampling technique. In this study, a GIS-based method was developed to optimize waste collection and transportation of solid waste to disposal point. According to the study findings, the town's solid waste generation rate was determined to 0.128 kg per capita per day, with a total daily quantity of 3.83 tons and an annual quantity of 1399.42 tons, falling within the typical range for urban towns in Ethiopia. This suggests that a substantial portion of respondents, 53.5%, engage in illegal disposal of waste, while 46.5% of households in the town deliver their solid waste to micro and small enterprises that offer waste collection services. Successful SWM systems incorporate public education on waste reduction and proper disposal techniques, motivating communities to actively participate. The study findings suggest that the municipal solid waste management service in the Birbir town is currently inadequate, specifically in terms of container usage and spatial coverage. To improve efficiency in waste transportation routes and bin allocation, Arc GIS based analysis is recommended for the study area. This optimization can help reduce distance travel and minimize time taken for waste collection. The function that considers several factors, including the road network, the shortest distance, and the social and environmental consequences, ultimately determines the best option. The proposed scheme has shown that it can reduce the total waste collection path length by over 13.61% through optimization.