GIS-MCDM Integrated approach for suitable landfill site selection: Case study of the southwestern part of Bejaia Province, Algeria

Household waste management in developing countries is a major concern, from production to final disposal, so siting a landfill is a difficult and complex process, requiring the assessment of many factors. In this study, an integrated approach combining Geographic Information System (GIS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to select optimal sites for the implementation of a landfill in the south-eastern region of the Bejaia Province. This analysis is based on fourteen factors from different sources, including geomorphological, hydrological, climatic and socio-economic criteria. These spatial data are processed and analyzed in a GIS environment, while the AHP approach has been used to evaluate the importance of each factor in order to determine the weight and combine the selected factors. Finally, a suitability map was prepared by overlay analysis, indicating that the study area is divided into four suitability classes, with areas classified as unsuitable and low suitable representing 4.484% and 28.26% respectively, while 60% is considered moderately suitable and only 0.49% is highly suitable for the construction of a landfill. Based on these results, four potential sites were identified out of a total of thirteen. However, this study underlines the need to take into account social-economic and environmental aspects in the decision-making process to ensure efficient and durable waste management.