Identification of Suitable Landfill Sites Based on Environmental Parameters in Sahneh County, Western Iran

Abstract

With population growth and increasing consumption, waste generation has become one of the major environmental management challenges in many regions. Sanitary landfill, as one of the common methods of waste disposal, requires precise identification of suitable areas and avoidance of locating landfills in environmentally sensitive and vulnerable zones. Sahneh County in Kermanshah Province, due to its location within the Zagros structural region, the presence of karst formations, significant vegetation cover, and extensive human activities, faces numerous limitations in selecting an appropriate landfill site. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate suitable areas for landfill site selection in Sahneh County using spatial analysis and multi-criteria decision-making models. In this research, MODIS satellite imagery, the 30-meter SRTM Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and a 1:100,000 geological map were used as primary data sources. ArcGIS software was used for data preparation and processing, TerrSet for implementing the Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) model, Expert Choice for parameter weighting based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Google Earth Engine for vegetation mapping and monitoring. The findings showed that only about 90 square kilometers (equivalent to 6.1% of the county's area) have relatively suitable potential for waste landfill, while approximately 482 square kilometers (66% of the area) are completely unsuitable due to proximity to rivers, residential zones, major roads, and dense vegetation cover. Overall, the results indicate that landfill site selection in Sahneh County requires high precision, further evaluations, and careful consideration of environmental constraints.