Evaluation of a Landfill Site Using AHP and TOPSIS Models: A Case Study of Ardakan Landfill, Iran

Evaluating municipal landfills is vital due to the importance of health and environmental issues and the possibility of contravening environmental and engineering criteria and principles. The present research was conducted to evaluate Ardakans’ municipal landfills using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order of Preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) models. The data were collected through library studies and organizational references, observations, and interviews with experts and authorities, especially those at Ardakan Municipality. Then, the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria and their options for running the TOPSIS model were chosen, and the AHP model and expert analysis as well as maps created in the geographic information systems (GIS) environment were used to weight them. Finally, the weights were inserted in the TOPSIS 2010, and the final ranking of the options and closeness coefficient were presented. The findings showed that from the options available for municipal landfill evaluation in Ardakan, appropriate and almost appropriate had the highest ranks with coefficients of 0.75 and 0.67, respectively. The results showed that the Ardakan municipal landfill is almost appropriate from the TOPSIS perspective and appropriate to very appropriate according to the evaluation criteria available.