Geo spatial analysis of solid waste management in Kumbakonam town

Kumbakonam Municipal town is selected for the present study.
Objectives: a) to trace the past and explore existing conditions of solid waste management practises in the Kumbakonam town, b) to map the existing number of dustbin locations and to find out the suitable and unsuitable locations dust bins in Kumbakonam town and c) to suggest the optimum locations for better management of solid wastes/dust bins using Geographical Information System.
Methodology: Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used to collect accurate measurements and create geographic data bases. GPS were used to find out the existing dustbins. These data were transformed into GIS, ArcGIS 9.0 software to depict the location of dustbins on the town maps. Further, buffering zones were created to extract suitable and unsuitable location of waste bins based on physical landscapes. Finally, to suggest proper solid waste management and waste disposal, the ward 24 has been selected for the allocation model to find out suitable location for dustbin.
Conclusion: The buffer zone map clearly showing that there are 146 dustbins have not been kept in the suitable area/location. The left over 356 dustbins were located in the right place. It has been observed that where the high density of population there were high production of solid waste and very low density of population has registered the very low weight of solid waste.