Landfill site selection using a hybrid system of AHP-Fuzzy in GIS environment: A case study in Shiraz city, Iran

Integrating fuzzy-AHP and GIS for solid waste disposal site selection in Kenitra province, NW Morocco

Selecting an optimal solid waste disposal site is one of the decisive waste management issues because unsuitable sites cause serious environmental and public health problems. In Kenitra province, northwest Morocco, sustainable disposal sites have become a major challenge due to rapid urbanization and population growth. In addition, the existing disposal sites are traditional and inappropriate. The objective of this study is to suggest potential suitable disposal sites using fuzzy logic and analytical hierarchy process (fuzzy-AHP) method integrated with geographic information system (GIS) techniques. For this purpose, thirteen factors affecting the selection process were involved. The results showed that 5% of the studied area is considered extremely suitable and scattered in the central-eastern parts, while 9% is considered almost unsuitable and distributed in the northern and southern parts. Thereafter, these results were validated using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC). The AUC found was 57.1%, which is a moderate prediction's accuracy because the existing sites used in the validation's process were randomly selected. These results can assist relevant authorities and stakeholders for setting new solid waste disposal sites in Kenitra province.

A comprehensive review on the integration of geographic information systems and artificial intelligence for landfill site selection: A systematic mapping perspective

Properly selecting landfill sites for waste disposal is crucial for mitigating environmental and public health risks. Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques have emerged as valuable tools for identifying suitable landfill locations. This study presents a systematic mapping study (SMS) that investigates the usage of GIS and AI in landfill site selection. We searched six databases (IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Science Direct, Emerald Insight, Taylor & Francis Online and Web of Science) using predefined keywords related to landfills, GIS and AI. From 858 initially retrieved articles, we selected 48 relevant articles for in-depth analysis. Our research aimed to answer various questions, such as publication trends, the geographic distribution of case studies, criteria for assessing landfill suitability, tools and techniques employed, preliminary site screening methods, decision-making processes, limitations and future research directions. We used bubble charts, bar charts and tables to visualize the results. The findings of our study highlight the growing interest in using GIS and AI for landfill site selection and emphasize the importance of incorporating multi-criteria decision-making techniques. Furthermore, the results reveal the need for developing more advanced AI models, addressing the limitations of current approaches and exploring novel visualization techniques for enhancing landfill site selection processes. This study provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in waste management, environmental science and geoinformatics. It sets the groundwork for future research on improving GIS- and AI-based landfill site selection methodologies.

Landfill site selection using MCDM methods and GIS in the central part of the Nile Delta, Egypt

One of the most prevalent and serious issues afflicting developing countries is the lack of adequate space for waste disposal. Al-Gharbia Governorate, located in the middle of the Nile Delta in Egypt, suffers from random selection of sites for solid waste disposal, resulting in significant environmental challenges. The aim of this study is to determine optimal landfill locations within Al-Gharbia Governorate and validate the existing landfill sites. Four techniques of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) were applied to generate suitability maps for the Governorate: the analytical hierarchy procedure (AHP), ratio scale weighting (RSW), straight rank sum (SRS), and Boolean method. Eleven effective criteria were considered: groundwater, surface water, elevation, slope, soils, land use, roads, railways, urban areas, villages, and power lines. The suitability maps were categorized into four different classes: suitable, moderately suitable, low suitable, and unsuitable. The latest suitability map was determined by combining the results from the different methods, providing decision-makers with the means to select the optimal landfill site. The suitable zone encompasses a small area (3%), predominantly located in the northeast region (Al-Mahalla), central region (Tanta), and northern region (Kotour). Conversely, the unsuitable area covers a substantial portion (72.7%) due to the agricultural nature of the governorate, high population density, and elevated groundwater levels. Furthermore, all existing landfill sites fall within unsuitable or low suitable areas, inflicting severe impacts on the nearby environment, public health, and groundwater integrity.

Decision-theoretic rough set model and spatial analysis-based waste-to-energy incineration plant site selection: a case study in first-tier cities of China

Selecting a sustainable waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plant site is important for handling huge challenges created by on-going municipal solid waste. However, many studies with WTE incineration plant site problems fail to determine alternative evaluation criteria and cities beforehand, which may increase decision costs and evaluation risks. This paper proposes a novel methodology based on decision-theoretic rough set model and suitable analysis for selecting the optimal WTE incineration plant site. Firstly, from the features of cities, alternative evaluation criteria are determined by three-phase method. Considering different geographical features, a geographical index system is established. Secondly, subjective and objective criteria weights are determined by an improved DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method and TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method-based linear programming model under the hesitant fuzzy linguistic context, respectively. Subjective and objective criteria weights are combined to form the final criteria weights by building an optimization model. Thirdly, the decision-theoretic rough set model is utilized to select alternative WTE incineration plant sites. We utilize spatial analysis adopting Geographic Information System technology to rank all alternative cities to build facilities. Finally, a numerical case is performed to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed methodology. The sensitivity analysis with the parameter [Formula: see text] ranking from 0 to 1 is performed, the result confirms that the proposed methodology has better robustness. Compared with the multi-criteria decision-making methods, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed methodology are demonstrated.

QGIS-based weighted linear combination plugin for landfill site selection: a case study in Tokat Province, Turkey

Proper disposal of solid waste is crucial for the protection of natural resources and human health. However, increasing population and changes in consumption habits have led to a global increase in solid waste production. Therefore, a site selection process for solid waste management that takes into account environmental, economic, and social factors is needed. The number of open-source GIS (geographic information system) software programs used in site selection analysis is increasing day by day. QGIS software is an open-source GIS software developed by free software developers, with its popularity increasing with each new version and allowing for the development of plugins with the Python programming language. The shareability of plugins developed with QGIS software brings together open-source GIS users around the world for common goals. In this study, a plugin called "LANDFILL SITE SELECTION (LFSS)" was developed in the QGIS software environment for solid waste landfill site selection and a suitability map was created for solid waste landfill site selection in Tokat, Turkey, using this plugin. For this purpose, 14 evaluation criteria and 8 exclusion criteria were selected, the importance levels of criteria and sub-criteria were determined using the AHP method, and a solid waste landfill site selection suitability map was created using the developed plugin.

Landfill site selection in a mining dominated area using a fuzzy AHP and DRASTIC vulnerability based multicriteria decision analysis: a case study of Dhanbad, India

Landfilling is the least preferred method in the hierarchy of solid waste management options, but it is the most widely practiced option. Thus, identification of environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites should be of prime importance. The main objective of this study is to identify environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process-based weighted linear combination model within a GIS environment. This study also used the DRASTIC-based groundwater vulnerability index and distance of landfills from densely populated areas to protect groundwater and reduce cost of transportation of solid waste which were not considered by the previous studies. Using the previously reported methods, a total of 132 landfill sites were found environmentally suitable in the study area. But, after applying DRASTIC-based groundwater vulnerability index, the number of environmentally suitable sites reduced to 95. When the proximity of the 95 sites to densely populated areas was considered to reduce waste transportation cost, the number of selected sites further reduced to 21 site and they can be considered the most environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites. This study will help the policy makers and the concerned SWM authorities to construct the engineered landfills at environmentally and economically suitable landfill sites in the study area and in other similar areas.

Site suitability analysis for sanitary landfills using geospatial methods in a part of southern Peninsular Malaysia

Globally, around 1.3 billion tonnes of waste are generated annually, and solid waste management has thus become a major concern worldwide. There are projections of a 70% increase in waste generation from 2016 to 2050 owing to urbanization and the rapid growth of the global population. Estimates indicate that around 38,200 tonnes of waste are generated per day in Malaysia, and this volume of waste is significantly shortening the planned life spans of operating sanitary landfills in the country. Batu Pahat is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia, with a relatively large population of 495,000 and with no record of an operational sanitary landfill. This study was conducted to identify and classify the most suitable sites for sanitary landfill developments in southern Peninsular Malaysia by means of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is recognized as a competent technique for multicriteria decision-making. The resulting landfill site suitability index map established 33.88 km2 of area coverage as very highly suitable for landfill development, while 353.86 km2 of area coverage was classified as unsuitable. Sites 1-6 were identified as the most suitable for landfill activities. Sites 1-5 are situated in agricultural land areas, while site 6 is in a forested land area; this implies public participation and the adoption of compensatory measures in the event of landfill development in these areas, given their socioeconomic importance. The six suitable sites are all at least 2000 m from rivers: 2000-3000 m for sites 1, 3, and 5 and > 3000 m for sites 2, 4, and 6. The six sites are all > 3000 m from fault zones and > 1000 m from flood-prone areas, meaning that occurrences such as fault movements and flooding will have minimal impact on the operational activities of landfills at these sites. The selection of sites 1-6 as very suitable for landfill development was associated with an overall accuracy rating of 93.33% and kappa coefficient score of 0.92 based on accuracy assessment analysis of all sites. This study will guide the actions of policymakers, city planners, and local authorities toward sustainable and environment-friendly landfill development and operation in Batu Pahat and other districts in the state of Johor.

Pharmaceutical waste management system - Are the current techniques sustainable, eco-friendly and circular? A review

Most households and healthcare facilities usually dispose of contaminated, unused, or expired (CUE) medicines with municipal wastes, the disposal of which usually amounts to $790/ton in the USA and £450/ton in the UK. Solid (e.g., tablets, capsules, powders) and semi-solid (e.g., ointment, creams) pharmaceuticals are managed with incineration/pyrolysis, encapsulation, and engineered landfills, whereas wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are recommended for liquid pharmaceutical wastes (PWs). However, to date, the sustainability and eco-friendliness profile of these techniques are only subjectively ensured, leading to controversial viewpoints in many guidelines. Each technique has relative strengths and weaknesses, and their comparative weighting to maximize these profiles is sought after. The present comprehensive review aims to fulfil knowledge gaps in this regard. Four electronic databases (e.g., PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and ScienceDirect) were searched for PW management (PWM)-related qualitative and quantitative articles published till December 31, 2022. Articles without details of waste disposal techniques and their health and environmental impacts were excluded. Based on the literature review, we determine that incineration can be considered a sustainable option for solid and semi-solid PWs, and WWTPs can be eco-friendly for liquid PWs, whereas encapsulation and landfilling are less sustainable. It is high time that objectively proven sustainable and eco-friendly techniques be implemented for PWM based on their dosage forms or nature of hazards. Medicine take-back, eco-pharmacovigilance, extended producer responsibility, co-payment, and life cycle analysis of pharmaceuticals focusing on reduction, reuse/re-dispensing can be integrated to make existing models sustainable, circular, and eco-friendly.

Sanitary landfill site selection using GIS-based on a fuzzy multi-criteria evaluation technique: a case study of the City of Kraljevo, Serbia

Adequate disposal of municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of Serbia's most complex environmental challenges. The problem is more serious in urban areas, since large amounts of waste are disposed of in locations that do not comply with environmental, technical, and socio-economic standards. Such is the case for the city of Kraljevo, where about 116,000 inhabitants do not have a sanitary landfill facility. This research includes a multi-criteria analysis, conducted with the help of geographic information systems, to find a suitable landfill site location. After data collection, the first step was to process 15 environmental and socio-economic factors utilizing the fuzzy analytic-hierarchy process method. The second step comprised the visual analysis and selection of the ten most suitable locations from the synthetic convenience map. The third step involved the final ranking of sites by means of the fuzzy multi-objective analysis by ratio, plus the full multiplicative form method, based on four additional beneficial and non-beneficial criteria. The results show that sanitary landfill candidate site A4 is the most suitable location for constructing a sanitary landfill site due to its large area (569 ha) and relatively short distance from the urban zone (8 km). This study is the first to integrate geographic information systems and the fuzzy analytic-hierarchy process, multi-objective analysis by ratio, and the full multiplicative form algorithm for sanitary landfill selection. The results of the research can be used as a reference for safe waste disposal in the city of Kraljevo.

Sanitary municipal landfill site selection by integration of GIS and multi-criteria techniques for environmental sustainability in Safita area, Tartous governorate, Syria

Urban waste disposal is a problem that poses a major challenge to city planners as a result of rapid population growth and urbanization. Finding suitable sites for solid waste is one of the most important solutions developed globally to manage this problem. In this regard, a set of physical, socio-economic and technological criteria must be considered to tackle the problem. Safita area (Tartous governorate) witnessed a rapid population growth during the decade of the war in Syria due to the onrush of internal refugees, which resulted in several environmental problems, including random waste dumps. After perusing the previous literature and considering expert opinions, a map of the spatial suitability of sustainable waste sites in the Safita area was developed by integrating the multi-criteria decision- making methodology (analytic hierarchy process) with the geographic information system. Thirteen criteria, including elevation, slope, permeability, distance to faults, distance to settlement, land use/land cover, distance to drainage, distance to water supplies, distance to lakes, distance to road, distance from tourist centers, distance from archaeological centers, and distance from religious centers, were used to achieve the goal of this study. The layer maps for these criteria were developed based on various data sources, including conventional and remote sensing data. Potential landfill sites were identified and divided into five categories: unsuitable (83.28%), less suitable (8.49%), moderately suitable (4.49%), highly suitable (2.57%), and very highly suitable (0.72%). The results of this study provide reliable spatial outputs that will help in suggesting new landfill sites that maintain environmental and socio-economic sustainability in the post-war phase. Moreover, the application of the methodology of this study can be generalized to the rest of the regions in Syria within the framework of the integrated management of the problem of random landfills.

Identification and selection of suitable landfill sites using GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis in the Peshawar District, Pakistan

Managing municipal solid waste (MSW) is indispensable for public health and quality living standards in urban and rural environments. Suitable landfill site selection (LSS) requires the consideration of many diverse criteria. This study uses various environmental, social and economic criteria in a sophisticated multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) within the geographical information system (GIS) and aims to provide a scientific basis for the identification of suitable landfill sites which can efficiently be used for MSW in one of the most urbanized cities (Peshawar district) in Pakistan. The methodology involves pairwise comparisons of the selected and ranked criteria using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). A weighted linear combination (WLC) was applied to generate the most suitable landfill site for MSW disposal within the study area. The results show that approximately 11.4% (14,485.15 ha) and 16.6% (21,211.95 ha) of the total study area are either very highly suitable or highly suitable, 20.8% (26,525.56 ha) area is unsuitable and the remaining areas are either low (27.3%; 34,834.84 ha) or moderately suitable (23.8%; 30,356.84 ha) for the construction of landfill sites. It is recommended that using the proposed landfill sites would have the least consequences of public health risks and environmental degradation.

Analytical hierarchy process for sustainable agriculture: An overview

United nation sustainable development goal two (UNSDG-2) aims to achieve the eradication of hunger along with the assurance of food security for all by 2030. This cannot be achieved without combining all forms of sciences including mathematics and statistics with agriculture practice to make agriculture sustainable. Agriculture has been considered the backbone of the economic systems of developing and developed countries. However, while practicing the activities, various conflicting issues incorporate and make the situation challenging for the agriculture industry in the decision-making process. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques can provide the optimal solution and they have proved to be viable in various complex decision-making problems of the real world like agriculture-related decision-making problems. They can help to find a suitable alternative for a particular complex situation.  The analytical hierarchy process (AHP); a globally accepted method; has been a winning arc of the MCDM techniques. This article specifically reviews the application of AHP in various agriculture-related problems, the models used, the data sources used, and the overall precision attained using the different performance criteria of the past few years.

Sustainability assessment of waste cooking oil-based biodiesel plant in developing economy based on F-DEMATEL and F-ISM approaches

Developing clean and renewable energy resources for long-term usage is a crucial concern in developing countries. In this regard, biodiesel technology is drawing a lot of public interest throughout the world. The issues associated with the sustainability of a biodiesel plant are intimately connected with restricted natural resources, political influences, energy independence, economic prosperity and global stability. Therefore, this paper aspires to identify the most influential factors that affect the sustainability of a biodiesel plant and describe interactions among them. The study focuses on identifying 36 factors based on an extensive literature review, questionnaire, experts' opinion and website in the context of developing economies. These factors include social, environmental and economic aspects. A framework based on fuzzy-interpretive structural modelling (F-ISM) and fuzzy-decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (F-DEMATEL) is applied to investigate the identified factors. The F-ISM approach allows a better understanding of the contextual interactions between the factors and classify them based on their driving and dependent powers. The fuzzy-DEMATEL technique facilitates in identifying the influential and influenced factors and categorizes them into cause-and-effect groups. The findings of the study suggest that 'Legal and regulatory compliances', 'Political constraints', 'International relations', 'Health and education' and 'Public safety and security' are the five most influential factors that are needed to be addressed for the sustainability of biodiesel plant. The paper also presents a few strategies, which can be applied as a guiding step by the decision-makers to formulate policies for the effective implementation of sustainable growth of the biodiesel plant.

Site selection of municipal solid waste incineration plant using GIS and multicriteria decision analysis

Fast population growth and urbanization has increased the generation of municipal solid waste in Oman. Currently, Oman relies on landfills to handle growing amounts of waste, which has burdened the existing solid waste management infrastructure. This situation calls for establishing incineration plants that can considerably reduce the volume of waste, and can simultaneously produce electricity. However, one of the crucial steps in the planning of an incineration plant is the selection of an appropriate site that can overcome environmental and economic implications and eliminate community dissatisfaction. Therefore, to select an optimal site for incineration plant in Muscat and South Batinah governorates, where landfills receive the highest waste amounts per day, this research identified 11 criteria that cover the environmental, economic, and social concerns. These criteria were processed by combining the multicriteria decision making (MCDM) method and geographical information system (GIS) software where the suitability of individual criteria were evaluated and then integrated using the weighted overlay analysis to generate a final suitability map for incineration site selection. The final suitability map indicated that only 2% of the land is suitable for setting up an incineration plant in the study area, and the most suitable location with adequate area was found in Barka wilaya of South Batinah governorate.Implications: Due to the escalation in MSW generation, Oman is looking for alternative strategies to reduce the volume of MSW. This has led to country's interest in establishing a waste-to-energy plant (particularly incineration) in the future. However, locating a suitable site for the installation of an MSW incineration plant in Oman has never been studied before. Therefore, to bridge the gap in knowledge, this research focuses on selecting a suitable site for a municipal solid waste incineration plant using GIS and multicriteria decision analysis. This study highlights the suitability of Muscat and North Batinah governorates of Oman where landfills receive huge amounts of MSW on a daily basis and are close to becoming saturated. Moreover, the suitability of land in both governorates is assessed to overcome environmental and economic implications and eliminate community dissatisfaction. This research not only provides the level of suitability of land in both governorates, but also selects a suitable site, which will be beneficial for the government of Oman in future when making a decision regarding the location of the plant.

MCA and geospatial analysis-based suitable dumping site selection for urban environmental protection: A case study of Shambu, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

A lack of suitable dumping sites in a town or city can have an impact on the health of the residents as well as the quality of the urban environment. There are no identified dumping sites in this study area that meet scientific or urban standards. Residents are dumping solid waste into ditches, roads, public water sources, and small streams. The solid and liquid wastes generated by residential areas, state prisons, religious areas, public markets, and business centers have a negative impact on the town. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the novelty of using Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA)-based geospatial analysis to select suitable dumping sites in Shambu town. Key factors for dumping site selection, such as LULC, road networks, private well locations, slope, geomorphology, geology, soil texture, drainage density, and lineament density, were confirmed as geospatial analysis criteria. In the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), the importance of the key factors was weighted and prioritized, and thematic maps were created using weighted overlay analysis. The suitable dumping sites were identified using qualitative classifications such as ^“highly suitable^” (13.84%), ^“moderately suitable^” (7.35%), ^“less suitable^” (30.41%), and ^“not suitable^” (48.40%). The consistency of AHP was determined to be CI = 0.012, indicating that the weights assigned to each factor were correct. As a result, the use of geospatial and MCA analysis for dumping site suitability analysis was successful, and the findings of this study will be useful in taking action to reduce the impacts of solid waste by developing dumping plants on the identified sites.

Application of ArcGIS and QFD-based model for site selection for bio-medical waste disposal

With the increasing formalisation of the health sector in India, the bio-medical waste (BMW) disposal regulations are getting stringent and its implementation is being enforced strictly. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) created a healthcare crisis because of the highly contagious nature of the novel virus. Measures employed for the prevention and management of COVID-19 resulted in the generation of an unprecedented amount of BMW in Indian medical history. This BMW needs to be disposed of safely at a suitable site to prevent secondary infection and the potential spread of the virus in the environment. The selection of an appropriate site for BMW disposal requires comparing a wide range of social, economic and environmental factors corresponding to different site locations, which makes it a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. This study aims to solve the BMW site selection problems using a quality function deployment-based model that can consider both the subjective and the objective criteria, and evaluate them as per the user's requirements. The proposed model is applied to evaluate the suitability of waste disposal sites in the city of Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, India. At first, eight possible locations for BMW disposal are identified, while utilising geographical information system (GIS). Consequently, the developed model is applied to evaluate the identified sites, taking 18 relevant criteria into consideration. A software prototype is developed in Visual BASIC 6 to automate the entire decision-making process, further adding to the novelty of the work.

A GIS-based multi-criteria fuzzy approach to select a suitable location for a MSW-based power plant and landfill: a case study, Khuzestan province, Iran

The aim of this study was to find the best location for municipal solid waste (MSW)-based power plant and landfill. Another goal was to investigate the energy recovery potential of MSW by anaerobic digestion and recycling process. A combination of multi-criteria fuzzy decision making system was applied in GIS environment to select the most suitable site for MSW-based power plant and landfill. The effective sub-criteria were classified into three main categories of environmental, social, and economic criteria, and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to weight and integrate them. The method was used in a case study to find the best location of MSW-based plant and landfill in Khuzestan province, Iran. Based on the amount of MSW production in this province and as a result, the potential for energy savings by recycling the recyclable part and recovering energy from the digestible part, the amount of fossil fuel that can be saved and the emission of greenhouse gases that can be avoided were estimated. Based on the results, in total, recycling the recyclable portion (dry waste) and producing energy from the digestible portion (wet waste) of MSW in Khuzestan province, leads to avoid burning 7.4 billion MJ of fossil fuels and emitting 644,169 t of CO₂eq GHG. The results also showed that the integration of fuzzy logic and multi-criteria fuzzy decision making system provides more flexibility in choosing the best location for the MSW-based plant. This method is flexible enough and in other situations can include other necessary criteria and can provide a comprehensive guideline for decision makers in choosing the optimal location for a power plant or a landfill.

A GIS-based multi-criteria decision-making method for the selection of potential municipal solid waste disposal sites in Mersin, Turkey

Due to rapid urbanization and the resulting rapid population increases, an important problem for cities today is the elimination of solid waste or finding suitable places for waste storage. Municipal solid waste disposal (MSWD) site selection is one of the most important steps in urban waste management. Many criteria political, economic, social, and technological should be considered in this process. Geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) are tools that are superior to traditional methods in the planning phase of site selection studies. In this study, suitable MSWD sites were determined in Mersin (a Turkish province) based on GIS and the analytic hierarchy process, an MCDM method. Unsuitable areas in the study were removed at the beginning of the analysis. Eleven evaluation criteria were selected: elevation, slope, permeability, distance from lineaments, groundwater level, distance from rivers and water surfaces, distance from roads, distance from settlements, distance from protected areas, and land cover. Considering the evaluation and exclusion criteria, 19.12% of the study area was deemed suitable, and 80.88% was determined unsuitable for an MSWD site. An MSWD suitability map was created as a result of the study. The outcomes indicate that 80,377 ha and 83,022 ha of the study area were classified as high and very high suitability, respectively. Based on these results, we evaluate whether the locations of existing solid waste landfills are appropriate and propose alternative solid waste landfills for each district.

Investigating the effects of vermicomposting process using Eisenia Fetida earthworms on the reduction of parasites population

Purpose

The existence of parasite agents in natural organic fertilizers can lead to health problems and infection transmission. The aim of the present study was to survey the parasites' population reduction during the vermicomposting of the mixtures of municipal sewage sludge (SS) and cow dung (CD) using E. fetida earthworms.

Methods

The vermicomposting process was performed by using earthworms of E. fetida species. The composting process was conducted in 27 pilots for 3 months. The identification and counting of the parasites' population were carried out by Mac Master Slide, according to Bailenger method.

Results

The results indicated that the type and number of parasite elements decreased with increasing vermicomposting time. The cumulative removal percent of parasites for sewage sludge (96.10%) was more than the SS + CD (93.65%) and CD (92.93%) treatments. The results showed that after 90 days of vermicomposting, the highest cumulative reduction in the number of parasites was obtained for the treatments with 40 earthworms (98.48%), while the corresponding value for the treatments without earthworms was (88.66%). The statistical analysis indicated that in terms of the parasite's population, a significant difference was observed for the three kinds of compostable materials (P < 0.05), however, this difference was not significant for the three levels of the earthworms (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

The results showed that the mixture of sewage sludge and cow dung in combination with sawdust could lead to greater and faster reduction in the parasite's population. In addition, the bio-transformed product can be used as useful manure.

Landfill Site Selection Using GIS Based Multicriteria Evaluation Technique in Harar City, Eastern Ethiopia

Solid waste disposal is one of the challenging components in integrated solid waste management. Particularly the problem is prominent in cities with rapid population growth and waste generation. Harar, a capital city of Harari regional state located in the eastern part of Ethiopia, covers an area of 19.5 km² and has a total population of 270 000. Despite the fastest population growth of the city, it doesn't have a landfill site to accommodate the waste generated and open dumping is in full practice. As an integral part of a solid waste management plan, the construction of a landfill has been suggested by the city municipality. However, the multi-dimensional and conflicting aspect of landfill sitting, which involves environmental, social, technical, and economic considerations, challenges the location of a suitable landfill site. In the current study, we have applied geographic information system (GIS) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) multi-criteria decision analysis to select a landfill site through minimizing conflicting interests. Environmental and socio-economic factors including well water, distance from residence, land use and land cover, elevation, slope, and wind direction were weighted to develop a suitability index for landfill siting. Experts' opinion was obtained to rank the aforementioned factors. The required landfill size was determined based on population growth, waste generation rate, and waste volume/year. Accordingly, the suitability index resulted in 3% of the area as highly suitable, and the rest 0.29%, 14.18%, 52.75%, and 29.8% classified as unsuitable, least suitable, moderately suitable, and suitable, respectively. Considering the future trend of waste generation, 16 ha of land located in the eastern part of the city was selected as a candidate landfill site with all the required suitability. The results of this study can be used as an input for decision making in siting landfill for Harar city.

Effect of COVID-19 pandemic on medical waste management: a case study

Covid-19 Pandemic leads to medical services for the society all over the world. The Covid-19 pandemic influence the waste management and specially medical waste management. In this study, the effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on medical waste was evaluated via assessing the solid waste generation, composition, and management status in five hospitals in Iran. The results indicated that the epidemic Covid-19 leads to increased waste generation on average 102.2 % in both private and public hospitals. In addition, the ratio of infectious waste in the studied hospitals increased by an average of 9 % in medical waste composition and 121 % compared with before COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in plans and management measurement such as increasing the frequency of waste collection per week leads to lower the risk of infection transmission from medical waste in the studied hospitals. The results obtained from the present research clearly show the changes in medical waste generation and waste composition within pandemic Covid-19. In addition, established new ward, Covid-19 ward with high-infected waste led to new challenges which should be managed properly by change in routine activities.

Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Site Selection Based on Fuzzy-AHP and Geoinformation Techniques in Asir Region Saudi Arabia

One of the main issues with solid waste management is finding appropriate sites for landfill. Non-scientific and inappropriate disposal practices have a negative impact on the environment which affects the quality of life. The study provides an integrated framework with a focus on structuring the decision-making process for the landfill suitability site map. This could be determined by the use of proper data collection, criterion weighting and normalization. In order to understand the procedures that affect the suitability of landfill sites, the integrated GIS-based fuzzy-AHP-MCDA method was implemented to appropriate landfill site for Abha-Khamis-Mushyet located in Aseer region Following the extensive literature review and expert opinion, 10 themes were selected for this study such as drainage density, land use/land cover (LULC), slope, elevation, lineament density, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), rainfall, distance from the airport, distance from road, and geology. These themes have been developed through RS (remote sensing) and conventional data. Subsequently, potential landfill sites were identified and divided into five classes: very low suitable (fuzzy value 0.20–0.45), low suitable (0.46–0.55), moderately suitable (0.56–0.65), high suitable (0.66–0.75), and very high suitable (0.76–0.92). According to the statistical analysis, 23.91% and 3.67% of the total area were within a very good and good landfill area, while 38.14% and 22.84% accounted for the moderate and poor suitable zone, respectively. As a quality-based site, the existing two landfill sites were located over a very low suitable and low suitable potential area while one landfill site was located over the high suitable∙ The spatial variance of high and very high potential landfill site zones found in the north-eastern, east-central and south-eastern parts of the watershed. The sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the efficacy of each parameter and reveals that the effective weights for each theme differ slightly from the theoretical weight assigned to the landfill site suitability zone. This technique and its findings can provide an appropriate guideline to assist hydrogeologists, engineers, regional planners, and decision-makers in selecting an optimal landfill site in the future.

Sanitary landfill site selection using multi-criteria decision analysis and analytical hierarchy process: A case study in Azuay province, Ecuador

Despite environmental regulations in Ecuador, particularly in the Province of Azuay, the solid waste final disposal management is still a socio-environmental problem, worsened by weak governance processes. The province has three sanitary landfills with almost expired service lives. The site selection was based on circumstantial reasons, which makes landfills more likely to cause environmental pollution and, therefore, have negative implications for public health. The largest landfill serves Cuenca and also leases service to other small cities. The remaining two are small and, accordingly, have limited technology and fewer resources. In this context, the main aim of this study is to evaluate the terrain of the province to find the most suitable area for landfill siting. A multi-criteria decision analysis, integrated with a geographical information system and analytical hierarchy process methodology, was conducted. Fourteen factors and seven constraints were simultaneously analysed, divided into technical, environmental, social, and economic categories; 15 of these criteria were from the Ecuadorian Unified Text of the Secondary Legislation of the Environmental Ministry. According to the results, 76.17% of the territory is not suitable for landfill implementation, and the unrestricted area represents the remaining 23.83%. The highest landfill suitability index (70-81%) is located in the south of the province in Santa Isabel, Oña, and Nabón cantons, which are dry and clay-rich areas.