Optimal Position Proposal for Construction of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Using an Approach of Fuzzy Set Theory and AHP in a GIS Environment: A Case Study in Hoai Duc District, Hanoi City, Vietnam

Abstract

Vietnam is a developing country with a rapid population growth rate and the inevitable consequence that the amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) released into the environment is growing. Currently, MSW landfill is still a popular choice in Vietnam because of advantages such as cheap, easy construction, handling many types of garbage. However, landfills are often opposed by people living around because of negative environmental impacts including air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution. In this research, the combination of Fuzzy set theory and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment was applied to propose optimal locations for constructing MSW landfill in Hoai Duc district, Hanoi city, Vietnam. 2 criteria and 8 factors were selected via literature review and Vietnamese regulations on construction of landfills. Data used in this study include spatial data layers extracted from the land use status map in 2018 and map of land use planning to 2020 of Hoai Duc district. These maps were collected from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the district and then converted, standardized and layers extracted in the GIS environment. AHP method was used to calculate weights of factors and Fuzzy set theory was applied to obtain the continuous reasonable score from 0 to 1. The whole process was conducted in GIS software called ArcGIS. The results showed that there were 2 potential locations with a reasonable score of more than 70% that can be built for MSW landfill purpose including the position in Van Con commune with an area of 90 ha and a position in An Thuong commune with an area of 16 ha. The approach in this research can be a useful reference for planners in selecting the optimal location for the purpose of MSW landfill construction.