Assessing the environmental effects of urban waste landfill and its interaction with the environment: A case study of Yazd city in 2017

Rapid Matrix Method is a tool for organizing, analyzing, and presenting the results of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment. The purpose of this study was to assess the environmental effects of the landfill in Yazd city using the rapid matrix method and evaluating the interaction of the environment with the landfill and estimating the cost of municipal waste collection. 

First, the effects of project activities were evaluated in two phases of construction and operation, on the implementation and non-implementation options concerning the three environmental components (physical-chemical, biological-ecological and social and economic). Then, the EVIAVE method was used to investigate the interaction between the environment and the landfill. The WAGS V1.10 software was used to plan the economics of urban waste in order to estimate the costs of municipal waste management. 

The environmental scores obtained from the rapid matrix were -210.5, -19.5, 168.5, and -124 at the construction and operation stages, in the implementation and non-implementation options, respectively. According to the results of the EVIAVE method, the Environment Landfill Index (ELI) was 97.41. Also, According to the WAGS V1.10 software results, the costs of collection and transportation of the municipal waste including personnel, capital, fuel, machinery maintenance, and other costs were calculated to be 49.12, 28.49, 3.79, 17.44 and 1.16%, respectively. 

Considering the results, landfilling of the municipal wastes can be acceptable in the current location by performing corrective actions and environmental monitoring. Considering the current situation, it is recommended to adopt appropriate management methods to reduce the environmental impacts of the site and reduce costs, especially personnel costs.