SITES SELECTION FOR SOLIDS WASTE DISPOSAL BY USING GIS AND REMOTE SENSING A CASE STUDY OF BLANTYRE CITY, MALAWI

Solid waste are now becoming a growing environmental and public health challenge in both developed and developing Nations, with urban centres in Africa experiencing particularly acute impacts due to rapid population growth, unregulated waste disposal practices, and insufficient infrastructure. Blantyre City exemplifies this crisis. It produces approximately 192,720 metric tons of waste annually, of which only 28% is collected and safely disposed of. The rest is often dumped in undesignated locations, including riverbanks such as Naperi river and open fields like in Mlambala. The city's only official waste disposal facility Mzedi dumps is currently in bad state and poorly located, with its surrounding areas densely populated with kachere residents, and road access nearly impassable during the rainy season. This study applies an integrated approach using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify suitable locations for waste disposal in Blantyre City. Ten key criteria were considered, including slope, geology, soil type (surface and subsurface), land use/land cover (LULC), proximity to water points, fault lines, roads, railways, and existing dumpsites. These parameters were carefully selected due to their relevance in determining environmental vulnerability and operational efficiency. Using ArcGIS software and Google Earth Engine (GEE), each criterion was mapped, standardised, and weighted based on its relative importance through AHP pairwise comparison. The study employed Euclidean distance analysis to determine optimum buffer zones from critical features. Land suitability was categorised into five classes: highly suitable, suitable, moderately suitable, less suitable and unsuitable.

Solid waste are now becoming a growing environmental and public health challenge in both developed and developing Nations, with urban centres in Africa experiencing particularly acute impacts due to rapid population growth, unregulated waste disposal practices, and insufficient infrastructure. The city's only official waste disposal facility Mzedi dumps is currently in bad state and poorly located, with its surrounding areas densely populated with kachere residents, and road access nearly impassable during the rainy season. This study applies an integrated approach using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to identify suitable locations for waste disposal in Blantyre City. Ten key criteria were considered, including slope, geology, soil type (surface and subsurface), land use/land cover (LULC), proximity to water points, fault lines, roads, railways, and existing dumpsites.

No detailed description has been provided for this study area.

District: Blantyre

Coordinates: -15.6817, 34.92535