Siting MSW Landfill of Ilam City using Boolean and Weighted Linear Combination Procedures in GIS Environment

Background and Urban developments and population growth have dramatically increased all kinds of municipal solid waste (MSW) generation. Hence، treatment and disposal of municipal waste is one of the main concerns in urban environmental management. The aim of this study was to determine suitable locations for landfill based on environmental criteria using Boolean and Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) in Ilam (in the west of Iran). First، the most important criteria effecting the location of landfill including slope، elevation، distance from the river، distance from the road، distance from the spring، land use، hydrogeology، distance from fault، and distance from residential areas were identified. Fuzzy membership functions and AHP method were used for standardization of criteria and determining the weights of factors، respectively. Boolean and a weighted linear combination methods shows that 99 and 93% of study area are not suitable for landfill siting، respectively. Also، the current landfill in Ilam shows a lack of consistency with the environmental criteria for MSW landfills. In this study WLC showed greater consistency with the environmental criteria compared with Boolean logic. Current landfill site in Ilam does not meet many criteria of MSW disposal sites. Therefore، this poor waste management could seriously threaten the area’s stability.