Site selection of landfill by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) (Case study: Landfill of Golpayegan township)

Solid waste municipal landfill can have significant health، economic and environmental effects. Therefore، there is a need to comprehensive land evaluation for locating the best landfill place. The purpose of this paper is showcasing the process undertaken to locate the best landfill site for municipal solid waste of Golpayegan Township. At first، three alternatives were proposed after field surveys from March 2011 to September 2011 and analyses in ARCGIS software and applying standards and important criteria in site selection of landfill and then the best option was selected. Scientific methods used in this study were the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) that are two practical methods of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM). For identification of preferences and weighting of the project activities the AHP was applied in IDRISI software. Based on the result from AHP، material transportation، clearing of trees، excavations، draining، establishment of roads and destruction of buildings in site selection of landfill were rated by the weights of 0. 45، 0. 22، 0. 14، 0. 090، 0. 060 and 0. 040، respectively. Then، using TOPSIS method the relative closeness to the ideal solutions in 3 alternatives were calculated at 0. 259، 0. 272 and 0. 754 for alternative 1، 2 and 3 respectively and alternative 3 was determined as the best for landfill in Golpayegan Township.