Site Selection Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process in the Planning Process for Solid Waste Sanitary Landfills: The Case of Denizli City, Turkey

Abstract

Waste management has grown into a significant matter for cities in line with the population growth and increased urbanization. Waste must be properly disposed to avoid causing a problem for environmental and human health. A variety of methods are used to dispose waste. Sanitary landfill, which is among these methods, is one of the common methods used for its safety and affordability. In the implementation of this method, a suitable site selection is a major factor that affects the whole process ranging from the construction to the operation of a sanitary landfill. It is aimed to determine the most suitable solid waste sanitary landfills (SWSL) for the city of Denizli in consideration of site selection criteria regarding solid waste landfills. The relevant legislation, academic studies and the current situation of the study area were taken into consideration to determine site selection criteria for SWSL. In this context, residential areas, primary traffic roads, protected areas, slope, aspect, water surfaces, rock structure, fault line, hydrologic soil groups, land use capability classification and land cover were determined as a site selection criteria. In the study, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used in spatial analysis, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), one of the multi-criteria decision making methods, was used in weighting the site selection criteria. According to the suitability map which is generated as a result of the study, 19.536,40 hectares (1.76%) of 1.109.742,16 hectares of the area was determined to be the "most suitable" for sanitary landfill while 260.520,26 hectares (23.48%) of it was determined to be "suitable". An ideal area was determined for the construction of a sanitary landfill on the areas determined as the “most suitable" in consideration of the requirements of the city of Denizli based on the projections for the year 2040.