Evaluation of GIS‑based multi‑criteria decision‑making methods for sanitary landfill site selection: the case of Sivas city, Turkey

摘要

Landfill is the most common method used to eliminate municipal solid waste in developing countries. As in all developingresidential units, Sivas city is also encountering a major solid waste problem menacing both public health and environment.This study analyzes the 7 criteria (geological structure, land ability class, transportation, groundwater, surface water, residentialareas, and existing land use) utilized for solid waste landfill area preference reasons by employing some GeographicalInformation System (GIS) based, multi-criteria decision-making methods such as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) andSimple Additive Weighting (SAW). Evaluation of alternative areas defined by AHP and SAW methods is conducted withthe help of Combinative Distance-Based Assessment (CODAS). The study area was classified as “most suitable”, “suitable”,“averagely suitable”, “too little suitable” and “not suitable” in terms of their sanitary landfill properties. Accordingto AHP and SAW analyses results, it was determined that a large part of the study area (respectively, 46.82% and 27.81%)is within the category of “averagely suitable”. After the application based on GIS oriented multi-criteria decision-makinganalysis, 4 alternative places as solid waste disposal areas were recommended by taking environmental and physical factorsinto consideration. AHP–CODAS and SAW–CODAS methods were mutually utilized to rank these 4 areas according totheir suitability. As a result, “Area1” in integrated weights (AHP and SAW)–CODAS was selected as the most appropriateplace for sanitary permanent landfill.