Optimal Landfill Sites for Kumasi Metropolis using Geographic Information Systems and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis

Abstract

Waste disposal management has been with us since the existence of human beings and has been of a major concern for both the developed and the less developed countries. Considering the implications of solid waste disposal on human health and the environment, proper management of waste material is vital in the sustainability of human lives on this planet. Many forms of sickness such as fever and diarrhea which often claim innocent lives are the result of improper management of waste materials. The main issue for the management of solid waste is locating optimal sites for solid waste disposal and selecting appropriate landfill sites far from residential areas, environmental resources and settlement and this is being demonstrated in this paper using Geographic Information and Multi criteria Decision Process. The integration of GIS and Multi Criteria Decision Analysis has been proved to be the solution to most landfill site selection problems, because GIS provides efficient manipulation and presentation of the data whiles Multi criteria Decision Analysis provides reliable priorities. The landfill sites predicted in this paper is more accurate and reliable because about ten factors that are required in selecting optimal landfill sited were considered. The predicted landfill sites would be of great help to the local authority of Kumasi Metropolis in terms of proper management of waste materials. For each of the sub-metro within the Kumasi Metropolis at least more than one landfill sites were predicted.