1.2. Problem statement
Rwanda cities are growing day by day. Due to the population
growth and the improvement of life standards, there is a growing concern
associated with waste generation. Some efforts were made to handle the urban
waste, but there are still some weaknesses related to the selection of suitable
sites for waste disposal. According to (REMA, 2010) waste disposal facilities
remain inadequate in resettlements (imidugudu), small towns and cities
throughout Rwanda.
In rural areas, organic waste is composted and mixed in
fields. Other types of waste are reused or put underlay. In urban areas, the
local administration usually manages solid waste collection and disposes waste
in open dumpsites.
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Research has been done in the field of landfill site selection
for municipal solid waste in different countries and particularly in Rwanda, in
the City of Kigali, using GIS overlay analyses. While ideal for performing
spatial searches on nominally mapped criteria, these GIS overlay analyses are
limited in use when multiple and conflicting criteria and objectives are
concerned. MCE techniques offer means for making and supporting complex siting
decisions, involving multiple criteria (STEPHEN, 1991).
In addition, their results cannot be efficiently and
effectively used for the case of Rusizi Town without any modifications due to
the heterogeneity of economical, environmental, political and social parameters
that were used in other countries and cities. Therefore, this research is a
contribution to the site selection and determination in secondary city of
Rwanda such as Rusizi using state-of-art-technology like MCET.
1.3. Research objectives and Research questions
The main objective of this study is to identify/ show sites
for municipal solid waste in Rusizi Town using MCET. In order to achieve the
main research objective, the following specific objectives and research
questions were answered in this research.
Table 1-1: Research objectives and questions
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Specific objectives
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Research questions
|
1.
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To assess the current situation of waste generation and
management in Rusizi Town.
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What is the quantity of waste
generation per day?
What are the techniques used to select
waste disposal in Rusizi Town?
|
2.
|
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To assess the suitability of the current landfill sites.
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What are the criteria fulfilled by the current landfill sites?
|
|
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3. To determine suitable site(s) for landfill for waste
dumping
|
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What are the suitable locations of landfill sites for each
Sector?
How many potential landfill sites for
waste dumping in Rusizi town?
|
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1.4. Scope of the Research
The study only covers the municipal solid waste in the Town of
Rusizi that is made of Kamembe, Gihundwe and Mururu Sectors. The design,
operations and maintenance of a landfill is out of the scope of this
project.
1.5. Research contributions
This research makes a contribution to the literature in terms
of landfill site selection. The result will always help city management
officials to quickly identify and select suitable landfills for municipal solid
waste disposal. In addition, it will help managers to cut down the time spent
debating location based problems as well as reduce costs.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is about the review of literature on solid waste
management. The first part of this chapter discussed solid waste categories,
the second parts identifies different technologies that are used in solid waste
management, the third part identifies various criteria that are taken into
consideration in landfill siting, while the fourth part presents the role of
GIS and MCE in site selection.
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