Siting of New Landfill for Municipal Solid Waste Using GIS and MCDA-A Review

Abstract

Due to rapid change in urban areas and the exponential growth in population, accelerated the huge generation of municipal solid waste (MSW). The management of the disposal of MSW is a substantial and complex process. Landfilling is the most common method used for the disposal of MSW, at the same time identifying the suitable site for disposal of MSW is a difficult task. Stakeholders are very much concerned about the disposal of solid waste and its landfilling. Sitting of the new landfill using spatial data and Geographical Information System (GIS) approach on conflicting points among social, economic and environmental effects. In this review paper literature related to new landfill sitting using GIS and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods are cited. Review paper concentrates on MCDA techniques, method of disposal, type of solid waste and country.Most common methods have been used by researchers are Analytic Hierarchy process, Fuzzy, Dynamicmodeling, Analytical Network Process, Analytic Neural Network, site screening method and Artificial Neural Network. It can be concluded that GIS provides accurate mapping, quick collection of data, high accuracy, better predictions, and analysis by eliminating unsuitable areas.Moreover, MCDA methods Analytic Hierarchy process(AHP) is found best from a set of available alternatives and gives the error-free solution to the users because of simplicity in pairwise comparisons,consistency in evaluation and versatility. It helps inidentifying the optimum site for the construction of a landfill. Limitations of AHP are found in random assumptions for various criteria and due to that consistency ration increases more than10%. Hence, there is a need forthe application of artificial intelligence with AHP.