Insights for Landfill Site Selection Using GIS: A Case Study in the Tanjero River Basin, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Arsalan Ahmed Othman, Ahmed K. Obaid, Diary Ali Mohammed Al-Manmi, Mohammad Pirouei, Sarkawt Ghazi Salar, Veraldo Liesenberg, Ahmed F. Al-Maamar, Ahmed T. Shihab, Younus I. Al-Saady and Zaid T. Al-Attar
Additional contact information
Arsalan Ahmed Othman: Iraq Geological Survey, Al-Andalus Square, Baghdad 10068, Iraq
Ahmed K. Obaid: Department of Geology, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10068, Iraq
Diary Ali Mohammed Al-Manmi: College of Science, Department of Geology, University of Sulaimani, Sulaymaniyah 46001, Iraq
Mohammad Pirouei: Department of Petroleum Geosciences, Faculty of Science, Soran University, Erbil 44008, Iraq
Sarkawt Ghazi Salar: Department of Geography, College of Education, University of Garmian, Sulaymaniyah 46021, Iraq
Veraldo Liesenberg: Department of Forest Engineering, Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), Lages 88520-000, SC, Brazil
Ahmed F. Al-Maamar: Iraq Geological Survey, Al-Andalus Square, Baghdad 10068, Iraq
Ahmed T. Shihab: Iraq Geological Survey, Al-Andalus Square, Baghdad 10068, Iraq
Younus I. Al-Saady: Iraq Geological Survey, Al-Andalus Square, Baghdad 10068, Iraq
Zaid T. Al-Attar: Department of Geology, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10068, Iraq

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-29

Abstract: The increasing world population and the growing quantity of solid waste have become a challenging problem facing governments and policy makers because of the scarcity of suitable sites for new landfills and the negative perception of these sites by the people. This study aims to evaluate the performance of different Multi-Criteria Decision-Analysis (MCDA) approaches using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) data for identifying suitable landfill sites (LFSs). We evaluated the methodologies used by various investigators and selected appropriate ones as suitable sites for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) landfill in the Tanjero River Basin (TRB) in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. We applied Boolean Overlay (BO), Weighted Sum Method (WSM), Weighted Product Method (WPM), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to allow combined use of 15 thematic layers as predictive factors (PFs). In this study, we applied the Topographic Position Index (TPI) for the first time to select MSW LFSs. Almost all methods showed reliable results and we identified eight suitable sites situated in the western part of the TRB having total area of ~18.35 km 2 . The best accuracy was achieved using the AHP approach. This paper emphasizes that the approach of the used method is useful for selecting LFSs in other areas, which are located in similar environments.

Keywords: GIS; landfill; MSW; WSM; WPM; AHP; TOPSIS; MCDA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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