Optimized municipal solid waste transportation with landfill requirement in a coastal city of Bangladesh

Abstract

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) transportation is one of the essential elements in solid waste management. Management of urban solid waste is reflected as the most severe and challenging environmental problem confronting municipal authorities in Bangladesh. So, ensuring an effective route for transportation and solid waste disposal is a critical factor here. Optimal transportation and disposal provision can save time and waste handling cost. The objective of this study was set to (i) develop an optimized waste transportation route and (ii) to assess the landfill requirement to manage the disposed waste. In this study, optimized route plans have been developed with minimum travel distance regarding the accessibility of the road for transporting MSW from Secondary Transfer Station (STS) to Final Disposal Site (FDS) by using ArcGIS Network Analyst in Khulna City Corporation (KCC). The result shows that about 17 km travel distance, 45 min travel time, and 30 L fuel can be saved per day using the optimal routes. Besides, it was found that the current land area at the FDS is not enough for managing the finally disposed wastes of the whole city. The existing landfill site requires 13.4 acres of additional land if the current practice (without composting) continues.