Municipal solid waste management in Gachsaran county, Iran – landfill site selection

Abstract

This study was conducted as part of the Integrated Waste Management Plan of Gachsaran county. Gachsaran county suffers from serious problems with regard to municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Poor collection and transportation systems, poor final disposal in landfill, illegal recycling activities and illegal waste pickers are among current problems. The required data regarding waste characteristics were collected through field studies. The current MSWM in Gachsaran county including waste generation, handling, separation and transportation as well as physical and chemical analyses were examined. According to the results, urban and rural per capita waste generation rates in the county are 844·5 and 551·1 g/d, respectively. Biodegradable materials have the highest percentage of the municipal waste composition. Also, since the current landfill location was seriously opposed by locals, a landfill site-selection study was performed by using Arc GIS software. Considering certain criteria, the analytical hierarchy process was used to determine the relative weight of each criterion. Finally, a number of suggestions were provided to enhance the performance of waste management in the study area.