Linking national policies to beneficiaries: Geospatial and statistical focus to waste and sanitation planning

Abstract

National policies for waste management that are geared towards achieving sustainable development goals often require plans and implementation strategies developed from empirical and data-driven processes. Developing countries often propose national policies but they never reach the implementation phase and adhoc practices remain unchanged. This paper analyses the strengths and weaknesses of a national waste management policy and develops potential recommendations to address the main threats that hinder the policy implementation. The lack of effective planning using data and analytical tools are identified as the main area hindering the policy implementation. Several applications are demonstrated for waste management using geospatial techniques and statistical modelling. Examples are demonstrated where spatial maps are used for zonation and landfill locations, statistical models used to identify waste generation at the community level and artificial intelligence used for waste separation. Recommendations are proposed in applying several of the methods demonstrated to shift the operation of a national waste sector to realize the benefits of the policy nexus for all stakeholders.