Mathematical Modeling of Waste Management Scheduling with Biodegradability Considerations: A Case Study of Abesan Housing Estate, Lagos, Nigeria

The complexities surrounding the effective management of solid waste continue to present a considerable hurdle in numerous urban landscapes across Africa, particularly in Lagos, Nigeria, using the traditional methodologies for the collection of waste, often overlook the biodegradability of waste, resulting in environmental degradation and increased public health risks. This oversight contributes to a decline in environmental quality, instances of waste exceeding capacity, and a greater incidence of risks to public health. In response to this ongoing predicament, this research introduces a mathematically-derived framework specifically conceived to refine the scheduling of waste collection by integrating an understanding of the decompositional characteristics of municipal solid waste (MSW). The efficacy of this framework has been substantiated through simulated scenarios. Concentrating on the geographically defined and densely populated Abesan Housing Estate within Lagos as a specific case study, the study develops a multi-objective optimisation approach aimed at achieving reductions in both the financial implications of operations and the adverse impacts on the ecological balance. The framework leverages the Teaching-Learning-Based Optimisation (TLBO) algorithm to facilitate adaptive scheduling, with simulation employed to validate its performance against a backdrop of realistic waste generation data informed by existing scholarly works. A comparative analysis conducted against the prevailing scheduling system reveals the potential of the proposed model to substantially enhance the efficiency of collection processes, mitigate the release of methane emissions, and reduce the frequency of overflow incidents. This scholarly contribution offers a pragmatic avenue for the incorporation of environmentally-conscious, biodegradability-aware decision-making into urban waste management