Spatial Distribution of Solid Waste Collection Points in KMA and the Community Perception about Solid Waste Management

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2015-11-03
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Abstract
There is a considerable amount of indiscriminate refuse disposal in many urban areas, most especially of the third-world countries. This study focuses on the spatial distribution of solid waste collection points in the Kumasi metropolitan assembly. It further examined the attitudes and perceptions of the community on the collection points usage and the solid waste management system. The methodology employed involved the use of GPS to pick the coordinates of the solid waste collection points, GIS to produce maps; and a questionnaire through which 400 copies were distributed accordingly across all the nine sub metropolitan areas in the metropolis, 322 were filled and returned completely and successfully, and were used for the analysis to make a generalization. The study area is sub-categorized or zoned into 9 sub metropolitan areas (locations) of which Subin, Oforikrom, Kwadaso, Nhyiaeso and Suame sub metros had 13(10.4%),20(16%), 19(15.2%), 15(12%) and 8 (6.4%) respectively. The rest are Tafo, Bantama, Asokwa and Manhyia sub metros also with 11(8.8%), 18 (6.4%), 11(8.8%) and 10(8.8%) respectively. Thus, it was assumed that almost all the inhabitants in the nine mentioned sub metropolitan area above dispose their solid waste in the legal collection points, therefore, 10 collection points each in the various sub metros were sampled in a stratified manner. And SPSS was used to analyse the data gathered using the questionnaire; and the results were discussed and presented using frequency and cross-tabulated tables, and charts on the attitudes of the community usage of the solid waste collection points and their perceptions toward the refuse management system. The study discovered a total of 125 solid waste collection points distributed unevenly across the nine sub metropolitan areas (locations) in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. Of the 125 Solid waste collection points, all seem legal and certified and authorised by the KMA, Waste management department(WMD) with a few satellite ones which seem temporal. The solid waste collection points are made up of two types of collection facilities: Roll-on Roll-off (roro) and skip collection containers, the former are 21 (16.8%), while the later are 104 (83.2%). The research also revealed that the number of indiscriminate solid waste disposal increases as you move from high to low density settlement areas, while the sizes of the refuse heaps increase from low to high density settlement areas. Finally, the study find out that no municipal solid waste management can be effective without proper monitoring of its disposal activities, and public enlightenment.
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A thesis submitted to the department of materials Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Resources Management Department of Materials Engineering.
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