An improved landfill site screening procedure under NIMBY syndrome constraints

Abstract

Finding a suitable solid waste disposal site is becoming a challenging task in many developing countries, where technical factors alone are not sufficient to site a landfill. The main objective of this study is to develop a GIS-based quantitative technique that incorporates factors responsible for creating the Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome, in addition to all other technical criteria. The proposed technique is composed of two main stages: the first stage is a screening step, where basic constraints are implemented to find technically suitable areas. These areas are then further processed in the second stage, where a NUISANCE score is ultimately computed for each suitable site by considering visibility, odor and distance as NIMBY factors. Easily obtainable datasets such as digital elevation model, average wind speed and direction are used in the procedure. NUISANCE scores of all suitable sites are then evaluated and ranked to point out the site with least possible negative opposition. This approach is demonstrated to find the best suitable landfill site for the city of Izmir, Turkey. The results revealed that only five sites out of the technically suitable 20 candidate sites are less sensitive to NIMBY factors. The remaining 15 sites are likely to create strong public opposition and thus should not be considered by the decision maker as a landfill location. The results of this analysis will direct the analyst to a site that is least likely to receive public opposition and assist the decision maker in the site selection process.