Forecasting of Municipal Solid Waste Generation for Small-Scale Towns and Surrounding Villages Located in the State of Gujarat, India

Abstract

Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) is major concern of planners, researchers and administrators all over the world. Major portion of population lives in small-scale towns and villages surrounding them in developing countries. Due attention is not paid for MSWM of small-scale towns and their surrounding villages. Forecasting of MSW quantity is necessary for development of sustainable MSWM strategy. We propose Artificial Neural Network based mathematical models for forecasting of MSW generated from small-scale towns and their surrounding villages located in the state of Gujarat, India. Population, geographical location and socio economic condition are taken as independent variables. The efficacies of proposed models are satisfactorily demonstrated with the help of validation data set.