Investigating landfill site suitability integrating GIS and multicriteria decision-making approaches in Khulna, Bangladesh

Open dumping, or landfilling is a cost-effective solution for managing municipal solid waste. Landfill site selection needs careful consideration because of its adverse impacts on the local economy, environment and public health. Khulna, the third-largest city in Bangladesh, is constructing a landfill site in Dumuria to manage the substantial quantity of waste produced in the city corporation area as part of the decentralized solid waste management strategy. Using analytical hierarchy processes for multicriteria decision-making and GIS, this study assesses the landfill’s spatial suitability. Ten factors, including morphological, environmental, and socioeconomic criteria were identified, and their respective weights using multiple pairwise comparison matrices based on expert opinion were generated. The study area was classified into four zones based on landfill site suitability, with environmental criteria being the biggest determinant, followed by socio-economic and morphological criteria, respectively. The study identified 29.41% of Dumuria as most suitable, 27.76% as suitable, 21.91% as less suitable, and 20.90% as unsuitable for a landfill. 99.97% of the proposed landfill site falls under the “suitable” category. This study provides a dependable and efficient multi-criteria and GIS-based technique to aid decision-makers in selecting future landfill sites that are socially acceptable, environmentally friendly, and public health-friendly for municipal solid waste management.