Optimal Locating of Landfills for City Waste Materials in the Persian Gulf Region: Case Study of Khorramshahr

Solid waste management is one of the environmental problems and issues which large Iranian cities are faced with. The main purpose of this study is to find an optimal location for burying solid waste materials in Khorramshahr following the locating and modeling approach. The present study is of the type of applied research in terms of purpose and of the type of descriptive-analytic research in terms of methodology. Through a thorough study of the literature on the theoretical foundations of research, 12 features were extracted to conduct this study. Given the susceptibility and impact model in the process of locating the best place for waste burial, the mixed Anp-Demantel technique was used for modeling within the framework of the causal display of indices, weight measurement, and its priority. The appropriate frontage and layering of waste was determined based on available standards. Moreover, the ArcGIS software was used to determine the proper spatial distribution of waste in the landfill. The thematic findings of this study indicate that the sub-criterion of population centers with an impact factor of 0.108 was the most effective index, but in terms of susceptibility in macro indices, tectonic standard ( with a weight of 0.326) and accessibility ( with a weight of 0.103), it ranked first. Regarding the spatial findings, it was concluded that from the 1,805,947 km2 area of Khorramshahr, 647823 km2 or 35.87% of its area enjoyed a completely appropriate situation. Given the findings of the studies, the authors have provided some suggestions at three distinct levels. At the first level, considering the cost of distance from population centers, appropriate faults, recharge wells, and bedrocks are suggested. At the second level, given the factor of access to a proper connecting network and a slope of less than 5%, the appropriate level is suggested. At the third level, which deals with less dangerous places for the burial of solid waste, it has been suggested to take the principles of distance from city centers, village, and surface waters into consideration, which is of course neither very effective nor cost-friendly.