Using geographic information system (GIS) to determine waste transfer stations in relation to location of landfill sites in Accra Metropolis

Abstract

The existing landfill sites in Accra are reaching full capacity and the acquisition of land for the construction of landfill sites has become very difficult due to rapid developmental activities in Accra. However, with the current rate of development which will cause the construction of landfill sites to be far from the source of generation, there is urgent need to get an intermediate facility, that is, waste transfer station where waste would be processed and compacted in long distance trucks to reduce the cost of waste transport and disposal. The objective of the study was to determine suitable places that could be used as waste transfer stations in relation to location of landfill sites using Geographic Information System (GIS). In this study, coordinates of all the container sites in Accra were determined with the Geographic Positioning System (GPS). The coordinates were then converted into points using ArcGIS and Microsoft Excel 2007 to help analysed the data collected. From the study, four transfer stations were located with the help of the GIS, namely: Ablekuman and Amomola (Transfer station 1),Oblogo and Weija (Transfer station 2),Ashongman and Agbogba (Transfer station 3), AshaleyBotwe and Ogbozdo (Transfer station 4).

Keywords: Transfer, waste, landfill, station, geographical information system (GIS), geographical positioning system