Location allocation for urban waste disposal site using multi-criteria analysis: A study on Nabadwip Municipality, West Bengal, India

The solid waste materials in cities are the natural outcome of human activities. Most of our cities and municipalities in third world countries like India is a major concern of the government due to the health problems associated with improper disposal of waste. Several factors are considered in site selection for waste disposal. Provision of such system appears to be a major problem due to the complication and the wide nature of waste production. Due to the different parameters involved, deciding upon a suitable location is also very complicated, costly and time consuming. Geographic Information System (GIS) allows users to view, understand, question, interpret and visualize spatial and nonspatial data in many ways that reveals relationships, patterns and trends in the form of maps, reports and charts. This study investigated most suitable site(s), as a waste disposal site(s) for Nabadwip Municipality which is located in the extreme west of Nadia district, West Bengal. Suitable disposal site must follow environmental safety criteria and attributes that will enable the wastes to be isolated so that there is no unacceptable risk to people or the environment. Criteria for site selection include natural physical characteristics as well as socioeconomic, ecological and land-use factors. Multi-criteria analysis has been done for solid waste disposal site selection in this study. The Geographical Information System (GIS) can provide an opportunity to integrate field parameters with population and other relevant data or other associated features, which will help in selection of suitable disposal sites.