Quantifying the impact of municipal solid waste litter using environmental status index in urban areas

Abstract

The municipal solid waste litter (MSWL) generation has been a growing concern for urban areas. It causes unpleasant aesthetic environment and health hazardous for pedestrian and residents living nearby. Although several studies related to the impact of littering on beaches and water bodies have been reported, there is insufficient information on MSWL in the urban settings. Therefore, the study was aimed to access the present status of MSWL generation and its management scheme in Nagpur, a tier two city of India. The characterization of MSWL and environmental assessment for five different categories of street was carried out using common weighted (CW) method. An environmental status index (ESI) model was developed to evaluate the existing scenario of MSWL management in urban settings. The MSWL generation rate varied from 1.5 to 4.6 kg per 100 m. The average MSWL generation rate from shopping street (SS), market street (MKS), major street (MS), residential and commercial streets (RCS), open spaces (OS) and hilly terrains streets (HTS) was found to be 62, 82, 53, 47, 78 and 42 kg/month, respectively. The ESI score for SS, MKS, MS, OS and HTS was found to be 382, 448.5, 301, 773.5 and 404, respectively. Further, the collected MSWL data set was analyzed using exploratory data analysis (EDA) to group similar data points together based on their attributes. The application of cluster (K) algorithm was found to be efficient to identify areas or regions with higher MSWL generation rate.