Multi-criteria decision-making model to support landfill prioritization: Methane risk assessment

Abstract

Landfilling as the most common type of waste disposal in low income countries causes various environmental issues due to gas emission. Since little attention was paid to air pollution from landfills, due to the lack of appropriate data, the aim of this paper is to establish a model for a landfill prioritization according to the methane risk assessment in developing countries like Serbia. Considering that the landfill methane risks (i.e. emission and atmospheric distribution and dispersion) depends on various parameters (criteria), to accomplish the objective, the authors carried out: a preliminary identification of the key criteria based on the available data, appointed criteria importance by Analytical Hierarchy Processes (AHP), established landfill impact category and proposed the final prioritization of landfills by Compromise Programing (CP) method. The proposed model was successfully tested and applied to eight landfills in South Backa District in the Republic of Serbia. Due to the lack of financial resources, the development of a model for a landfill prioritization according to the methane risk assessment presented in this paper could be a significant foundation for decision-makers in order to establish the priorities for undertaking the necessary control and remedial measures.