Landfill site suitability analysis using AHP for solid waste management in the Guwahati Metropolitan Area, India
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Landfill site suitability analysis using AHP for solid waste management in the Guwahati Metropolitan Area, India Roopjyoti Hazarika 1 & Anup Saikia 1 Received: 17 April 2019 / Accepted: 19 October 2020 # Saudi Society for Geosciences 2020
Abstract Landfilling is a convenient method to tackle waste problems, in developing as well as developed countries. Determining a minimally environmentally deleterious garbage dump site is a challenge considering that a bevy of socio-economic, environmental and legal parameters often exists in developing countries. Guwahati is a city in India that faces the hindrance of not having a suitable landfill site. The existing landfill site, Boragaon, does not fulfil the prescribed parameters listed by the Central Public Health Environment and Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The main objective of this study was to provide alternative sites in the Guwahati Metropolitan Area (GMA) using geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)–based analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methods. Seven criteria were considered in site selection. These were land use, slope, elevation and proximity to wetlands, rivers, roads and the airport. Results indicate that 7.5% of the area was most suitable, 22.8% highly suitable, 43.8%, 22.2% and 3.6% areas were of moderate, low and least suitability respectively. On the basis of the area covered by each location, 5 landfill sites were identified to potentially relocate the existing site. The study highlights the problem of waste management in low- and middle-income cities. Keywords Site suitability analysis . Multi-criteria decision analysis . Analytic hierarchy process . Solid waste management . Guwahati Metropolitan Area
Introduction The world’s cities currently generate 1.3 billion tonnes of solid waste per year, amounting to 1.2 kg/capita/day (World Bank 2012). Rapid growth and urbanization have led to a sharp increase in the generation of waste (Boroushaki and Malczewski 2010; Demesouka et al. 2013; Halahla et al. 2019; Salemi and Hejazi 2017). People discard products that outlive their primary purpose and coupled with consumerism and growing affluence; the waste generation has become an issue of massive proportions. Improper waste disposal adds to environmental pollution as well as aggravating public health risks (Palomar et al. 2019; Omoloso et al. 2020). Thus, sustainable solutions to tackle such waste are a pressing requirement. An efficient management system has to be designed Responsible Editor: Amjad Kallel * Anup Saikia [email protected] 1
Gauhati University, Gauhati, India
wherein complexity, uncertainty, multi-objectivity and subjectivity (Sumathi et al. 2008; Khan and Samadder 2014) associated with waste matter disposal can be arrived at with minimal adverse environmental effects. Urban solid waste management (SWM) is considered as one of the most serious environmental problems confronting municipal authorities in developing countries, but often
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