Location and Monitoring Unofficial Trash Places via Mobile Application

The generation, accumulation, and improper management of waste is a common problem. In Mexico, there are various unofficial Trash Places (on sidewalks, lots, abandoned properties), which impact the environment and increase health problems for the population. The location of these Unofficial Trash Places is not easy to locate, and they are not reported. Today, the use of information technologies has increased with the interaction between people and technological applications, primarily mobile ones. In this work, a mobile application prototype was designed and implemented that allows citizen volunteers interested in their environment to contribute by reporting the location of unofficial landfills and monitoring their progress. We divided the development of the proposed application into three main phases: the first consisted of developing the mobile application using an existing interactive web portal; the second consisted of distributing the application prototype to volunteers for field data collection; and the third, the validation of the information by an administrator user. We defined the study area for the municipalities of Tampico, Madero, and Altamira, located in southern Tamaulipas, Mexico. We shared the mobile application with 20 volunteers, which will collect data from the study area during the years 2023 and 2024. As a result, volunteer users reported 120 unofficial dumpsites, 80 of which were validated by our system administrator. Of these confirmed dumpsites, 52 were located in Altamira, 15 in Tampico, and 13 in Madero. There were limitations to the data collected due to the type of mobile devices used for GPS location and weather conditions, among others. The mobile application’s insights will allow citizens to contribute to reporting and monitoring the locations of unofficial dumpsites and to promptly inform the appropriate agencies, integrating information technologies with the sustainable development of the study area.