Development of a Smart Waste Management App for Kano Metropolitan Area

Urban waste management in Kano State, one of Nigeria's most densely populated North West cities, is challenged by irregular collection schedules, illegal dumping, and poor community reporting mechanisms. This research develops a smart waste management application for the Kano metropolitan area, integrating GPS tracking of waste collection vehicles with a resident reporting interface. The system was built using Flutter for the mobile frontend and Django REST Framework for the backend API, with Google Maps integration for vehicle route visualisation. The software development lifecycle follows the agile model, with bi-weekly sprint reviews involving five Kano State Waste Management Authority officials and 30 resident testers. Core features include real-time vehicle tracking, waste pickup scheduling, citizen incident reporting, and a recycling awareness module. Evaluation covers app performance, user adoption rate, and incident resolution time across four local government areas. Results indicate that reported waste incidents were resolved 62 percent faster after app deployment, and public awareness of recycling improved significantly based on pre- and post-intervention surveys. The study recommends formal partnership between the application and the Kano State Ministry of Environment to ensure long-term data integration and operational support. This research demonstrates how civic software engineering can directly address urban sanitation challenges in northern Nigerian cities. Keywords: smart waste management, Kano, Flutter, GPS tracking, civic technology