Municipal Waste Landfill Site Selection based on Environmental, Geological and Geotechnical Multi-criteria: A Case Study

Abstract

Waste management is a complex and detailed process that involves evaluation of certain important factors, such as a geological, geotechnical, hydrological, hydrogeological, climate, urban management, environmental, along with social, cultural, and psychological parameters. Unfortunately, in Iran, there is minimal evaluation of initial parameters and in some cases even don't exist. The purpose of this study is to conduct a landfill site selection based on engineering geological views. For this purpose, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methods were used to select a suitable site for disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) for the city of Maragheh, Iran. In order to make decision for landfill site selection, the focus was on multivariable function of the listed criteria. Each of these criteria is classified based on international guidelines (US environmental protection agency and technical committee on geotechnical landfill engineering), field studies, and laboratory tests. Based on the results, Three sites were recommended for municipal solid waste landfill (Sites ‘A', ‘B' and ‘C'). From these sites, sampling and soil mechanics tests (sieve analysis and Atterberg limits) were conducted where categorised according to USCS classification system. Finally, with AHP and MCDM methods the ‘Site A' was recommended as the best location for sanitary landfill.