Assessing geographical information system integration in solid waste management in Lilongwe city

Abstract

Solid Waste Management involves several stages that include, generation, solid waste collection, segregation, and transferring and dumping. Rapid urbanisation has caused the volume of solid waste produced by cities to increase. In Malawi, city councils are responsible for solid waste management. The process of solid waste management is location-based and requires spatial information to be integrated through a Geographical Information System (GIS). Lilongwe City Council does not integrate solid waste management into its process. Using a conceptual framework adapted from Tembo (2003), this study assessed the integration of the Geographical Information System in the Solid Waste Management (SWM) process in Lilongwe City. Interviews were done with key informants working in the waste management section of the Lilongwe City Council. The study employed a mixed methods approach; 398 interviews were conducted with Lilongwe residents in Area 23, Area 1, Area 19, Area 29, and Area 43 based on their land uses and volume of waste generation. Usage of quantitative data analysis for the Lilongwe City Council was performed in trying to understand the comparison of wastes generated in the five areas of the city. For comparison between continuous and categorical variables, t-tests were used if the variable in comparison has two groups only while ANOVA tests were used if the variable in comparison has more than two groups. A chi-square test was used for a comparison between categorical variables spatial analysis models in QGIS were used to analyse data and generate maps. Results show that there is a spatial information gap in solid waste management processes used by Lilongwe City Council. The study recommends that the Lilongwe City solid waste management process should integrate the Geographical Information System to improve its efficiency on both waste management and solid waste spatial data.