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Landfill site selection by integrating fuzzy logic, AHP, and WLC method based on multi-criteria decision analysis

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Abstract

Rapid population growth integrated with poor governance and urban planning is highly challenging resulting key for the selection of unsuitable landfill sites, particularly in developing counties. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the suitable solid waste landfill sites in the capital of the country as a case study, by the integration of Geographical Information System (GIS) with fuzzy logic, analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and weighted linear combination (WLC) method based on multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). We chose thirteen (13) criteria (9 factors and 4 constraints) and grouped them into two main categories (environmental and socioeconomic) to achieve the objectives. The AHP was employed to evaluate the relative importance of the factors followed by standardization of criteria factors based on fuzzy set theory. Subsequently, all criteria factors were combined based on AHP and fuzzy logic-WLC method in order to obtain land suitability map. Finally, the sites were identified by the intersection of two combined suitability index layers. The obtained results depicted that the integration of fuzzy logic, AHP, and WLC technique with GIS can produce satisfactory results for the suitable locations of solid waste landfill sites over complex topographic regions. Overall, the land suitability obtained based on fuzzy-WLC is more refined and smooth because of its better segregation and its potential to consider full tradeoff between factors and average risk. The AHP was identified (47 km2) as high suitable while fuzzy-WLC generated 36 km2 as suitable area. Finally, the intersection of both suitability index map shows numerous suitable landfill sites available in Islamabad city; however, the surface areas of the sites are small at individual level (less than 15 ha).

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Acknowledgments

This study was conducted at the Institute of Geographical Information Systems (IGIS), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SCEE), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Riaz Zarin & Muhammad Azmat

  2. School of Chemical & Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Salman Raza Naqvi

  3. Institute of Water Saving Agriculture in Arid Regions (IWSA), Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Qaisar Saddique

  4. College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Qaisar Saddique

  5. Department of Geography, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan

    Saif Ullah

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  1. Riaz Zarin
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  2. Muhammad Azmat
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  3. Salman Raza Naqvi
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  4. Qaisar Saddique
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Contributions

Riaz Zarin: writing original draft and preparation, formal analysis, methodologyMuhammad Azmat: writing original draft and preparation, methodology, investigation, supervisionSalman Raza Naqvi: writing-review and editing, conceptualization, supervisionQaisar Saddique: writing-review and editing, resourcesSaif Ullah: writing-review and editing, resourcesEjaz Hussain: writing-review and editing

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Correspondence to Salman Raza Naqvi.

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Zarin, R., Azmat, M., Naqvi, S.R. et al. Landfill site selection by integrating fuzzy logic, AHP, and WLC method based on multi-criteria decision analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 19726–19741 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11975-7

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