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

Landfilling with simplicity and economic advantages is the most common element for waste management in both developed and developing countries. Landfill site selection in a proper way is an important municipal planning process which prevent environmental issues including water pollution imposed for insanitary landfills. The present research was developed to exhibit a simplified method of multi criteria decision making (MCDM) and Fuzzy memberships in GIS environment to ascertain best landfill sites for Shiraz county, located south of Iran. 15 most common sub-criteria, documented in literature and implicated by Iranian environmental protection organization (IEPO) including surface water, ground water, land use, distance to well, soil type, slope, protected area, fault in environmental group, residential area, road, airport, village, infrastructure, historical area, wind direction in socio-economical group were selected and the weight of each criterion was determined based on expert’s knowledge with use of analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results of the present research are as follows: • Distance to residential area and groundwaters with weight of 0.36 and 0.28 were recognized as the most important criteria for landfill site selection. • The six suitable areas for landfill in Shiraz county is 1.003% of total area equal to 8710 ha. • AHP and Fuzzy memberships has a great potential and ability for landfill site selection.