Site selection for waste transfer station in Karaj county, Alborz province

Population growth with the growth of urban communities has been increased consumer demand and waste production. Waste collection and transportation, as the most expensive element in the waste management system, is so important that a slight change in the cost of management process will reduce the related costs in the waste management system. Among these, transfer stations, as facilities that reduce the costs of collection and transportation, are particular importance. The aim of this study is to select a suitable site for the construction of a waste transfer station and then prioritize suitable options in Karaj. The innovation of this research is in the number of criteria and sub-criteria used for locating and prioritizing options. After setting the major criteria and sub-criteria related to the location of the waste transfer station in this city, their maps were prepared. A total of 3 criteria and 14 sub-criteria were used in this study, then the prepared maps were standardized to a range of [0, 1] and the weight of each criterion and sub-criterion was determined using the pairwise comparison method. The weighted linear combination method was used to prepare the suitability map. The results showed that the major criteria for choosing the transfer station were the boundaries and distances, followed by the physical criteria of land and land use. Then 10 options were selected as the final option and 2 criteria of future development plans and land price were also added to the research and the options were prioritized using the TOPSIS method and the most suitable option with an area of more than 4 hectares was selected in 4 regions. The approach used in this research can be used in other cities.