Multi-criteria decision analysis for the selection of the most suitable landfill site: Case of Azemmour, Morocco

Each landfill site has its own characteristics from a Geological-Hydrological-Hydrogeological, Land-Planning, Environmental, Operational-General and Financial-Economic point of view. The criteria used to determine the importance of these characteristics are often contradictory.With such conflicting criteria, it is often impossible to find the ’optimal’ landfill site. A multicriteria decision analysis method to aid the Decision Maker in selecting the most suitable landfill site as well as a case study in the city of Azemmour, Morocco are presented in this paper. The selection of a set of alternative landfill sites, the selection of a list of relevant criteria to evaluate these alternative sites and the choice of an appropriate landfill site are also analyzed in this framework. The proposed procedure relies on the PROMETHEE method which belongs to the well-known family of multi-criteria outranking methods and its comparison with AHP method to improve the obtained results. From this investigation, the most suitable site for a new landfill in the municipality of Azemmour was determined. This site has the ability to reduce both landfill allocation and operating costs and the environment and public health impact.