A Geospatial Approach
to identify Landfill Sites as Alternatives to Unsuitable Dumping Areas
Karuppaiyan Kalaiyarasan and Jayaprakash Santhosh
Disaster Advances; Vol. 18(12); 19-30;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/1812da019030; (2025)
Abstract
The rapid pace of urbanization, industrialization and population growth has significantly
increased the volume and complexity of municipal solid waste (MSW), intensifying
both environmental and public health concerns globally. Among the various MSW management
strategies, the sanitary landfilling remains the most widely practiced method for
final waste disposal, particularly in developing countries. The landfill site selection
process is inherently complex and multifaceted. This study considered multiple environmental
and socio-economic factors. The OSM shape file was downloaded from Geofabrik's Open
Street Map Data extracts. All feature layers were clipped via the study area boundary
layer with the 'Clip Multiple Layers' plugin in QGIS. Buffer analysis was performed
via ArcGIS software. The results indicated that the existing Srinivasapuram dumping
yard, Thanjavur, southern part of India is unsuitable for further expansion. The
analysis also revealed that the western and southeastern zones within the proposed
area offer suitable locations for landfill development.
The study focused towards the utilization of open-source OSM data and fundamental
spatial techniques such as buffer analysis, overlay analysis and visualization.
On the basis of multicriteria evaluation, the ten top-ranked candidate sites are
shortlisted and the first three sites are ideal which are having the areas of 384.40
acres, 372.22 acres and 336.90 acres.
