Inter-Municipal Landfill Site Selection Using Analytic Network Process

Selecting the most suitable landfill site is important to prevent any negative ecological and socio-economic effects. Spatial analysis takes into consideration local environmental regulations and adopted acceptance criteria that are important considerations in site selection. This paper is a case study to determine the suitability of an inter-municipal solid waste landfill site for the city of Khomeynishahr and its six adjacent cities, with a total population of half a million people. A multi-criteria evaluation method emphasising geographical information systems (GIS) techniques was used to identify suitable landfill sites. A combination of Boolean logic, Fuzzy logic and Analytic Network Process (ANP) was used for prioritising the associated criteria and selecting a suitable landfill site. This method is capable of being applied to complex problems with uncertainty and non-hierarchical structure and allows for the consideration of interdependence relationships of decision criteria within and between levels. Taking advantage of the ANP method, the selected landfill site priorities can be identified by considering the variation and relative importance of decision criteria for each site, which cannot be considered in other decision-making methods, such as Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results showed the significant importance of residential area and water resources protection in landfill site selection. This study indicates that the integrated method can provide environmental decision makers and planners with a promising tool.