Toward Sustainable Landfill Siting: A Case Study for Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Presently, waste generation in Johor Bahru has steadily increased over the past few years and the only existing sanitary landfill is reaching its capacity limits which means that new sanitary landfill sites need to be constructed to prevent environmental risk factors. Taking this into consideration, a model is needed in which the importance of environmental and socio-economic factors are simultaneously taken into consideration. The use of geospatial technology such as geographic information systems (GIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) are used to prepare the required input data. This is because landfill siting analysis typically requires evaluating various rules, factors, constraints, and numerous spatial data. Modern GIS is capable of rapidly processing the massive amount of spatial data which when integrated with MCDA improves the decision-making process. Furthermore, future population and waste generation prediction are considered and calculated in this study for the creation of long-term solutions to solid waste management in the area.