Evaluation of Iranian Leopold Matrix application in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of solid waste management options in Birjand city

Significant increase in population and as a result, the production of excessive waste has recently made attention to municipal solid waste management a necessary issue. The objective of this study was to use matrix-based EIA process in order to determine best waste management option in Birjand City and to suggest appropriate solutions to managers and planners of this city. Assessing the environmental impacts of waste management options was done using Iranian Leopold Matrix. Through this method, the environmental impacts of waste management options were determined in the Birjand City. The options were Open dumping, Recycling, Composting, and Sanitary damping. The results indicated that Open dumping with a final score of -3.06 had the highest environmental impact and was introduced as the fourth preference. In addition, composting with final score of -2.34 has the lowest environmental impact compared with other options. About 76.95% of the composition of municipal solid waste of Birjand City is household waste; therefore, putrescible organic materials are the predominant waste. Thus, according to the results of the Iranian Leopold matrix method, composting option was introduced as the first priority and the most logical option for waste management in the Birjand City.