Using MACBETH Multicriteria Technique for GIS-Based Landfill Suitability Analysis

Abstract

Regarding the inability to fulfill regional landfill demands, the inefficiency of municipal solid waste management systems due to shortages of suitable and efficient infrastructures remains a crucial social issue. In addition, the fact that there are numerous environmental, social, and design factors that need to be taken into account by decision makers (DMs) raises serious concerns regarding the task of identifying appropriate sites for municipal solid waste landfills. For this reason, the use of multicriteria spatial decision support systems, the synergic combination of geographic information system (GIS) and multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods, is proposed, taking into consideration the spatial nature of the problem and the need to incorporate conflicting objectives and DM preferences. The paper at hand proposes a framework that enables the implementation of the measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique (MACBETH) method in GIS-based raster-driven suitability analysis. MACBETH is a well-established MCDA method for the evaluation of alternative actions/scenarios based on qualitative judgments regarding their attractiveness to a DM. A real-world case study concerning the placement of a landfill in the region of Thrace, northeastern Greece, is discussed in detail. The computational part of the MACBETH method is supported by the M-MACBETH decision support system. The proposed framework consists of an attempt that allows MACBETH implementation in GIS-based raster-driven suitability analysis. In addition, a comparative analysis with other well-known methods was conducted showing that the proposed framework produces sufficient results.