MSW landfill site selection by combining AHP with GIS for Konya, Turkey

Landfill site selection is a critical issue in the urban planning process because of its enormous impact on the economy, ecology, and the environmental health of the region. Landfill site selection process aims to locate the areas that will minimize hazards to the environment and public health. Multi-criteria evaluation methods are often used for different site selection studies. The purpose of this study was to determine suitable landfill site selection by using the geographical information system and the analytic hierarchy process in the study area. The final index model was grouped into four categories as "low suitable", "moderate", "suitable" and "best suitable" with an equal interval classification method. As a result, 12.69 % of the study area was low suitable, 7.27 % was moderately suitable, 13.79 % was suitable, and 15.52 % was the best suitable for landfilling; 50.72 % of the study area is not suitable for a landfilling.