Siting of sanitary landfills using GIS modelling:

Empirical analysis in Tinos Island, Greece

1Kalogeropoulos K.*, 1Roumelis S., 1Apostolidis V., 1Digkas

K., 1Dimopoulou E., 1Karkaletsou A., 1Kefalas G., 1Lorilla

R. S., 1Matala A., 1Mavrokefalou G., 1Psarogiannis A.,

1Salonikidi A., 1Sofianopoulos S., 1Stamellou E.,

1Stathopoulos N., 1Voutos G., 1Chalkias C.

1Department of Geography, Postgraduate Programme in Applied

Geography and Spatial Management, Geoinformatics Sector,

Harokopio University of Athens, El. Venizelou str. 70, 176

71, Greece

Email: * kalogeropoulos@hua.gr

Abstract

Integrated and sustainable urban solid waste management is

one of the most important environmental problems in Europe

and worldwide. According to modern legislations and newly

promoted practices and trends in Europe as well as

internationally, a complex way of urban solid waste

management tends to prevail. This management method

combines the Processing Unit and the Sanitary Landfill for

the Residues of the process. A variety of parameters and

restrictions apply when planning the siting of Residue

Sanitary Landfills (RSL). The urban solid waste management

problem and specifically the matter of RSL siting is

constantly becoming more and more important in developed

and developing countries due to pressures coming from

population and urbanization growth, continuously increasing

living needs and many other factors. Technology evolution

and especially Geoinformatics tools, such as Geographic

Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS),

constitute rather effective ways to approach and research

issues like the problem of urban solid waste management and

mainly the optimal delimitation of RSL.

The aim of this paper is to locate suitable – optimal areas

that can be used for placing RSL in the island of Tinos,

based on legislation, environmental, economic and social

criteria. The methodology followed in this research effort

is developed via Geographic Information Systems (GIS) by

creating a spatial database which contains all the above-

mentioned criteria. This research procedure includes an

important number of different method trials. The result of

this process indicate several places for placing RSL in

Tinos Island.

Key Words: waste management, Residue Sanitary Landfills

(RSL), spatial database, GIS-based zonation, cartographic

overlay analysis

1. Introduction

Integrated and sustainable municipal solid waste management

is a major environmental problem in our country and

worldwide. In recent years the growing urbanization of

areas in combination with the astonishing growth of mass

tourism as well as the improvement of living standards and

the changes in consumption models have led to a dramatic

increase of municipal solid waste. In order to address this

problem, new laws and practices in Europe and worldwide

have created a new way of solid waste management that

combines the processing unit and the sanitary landfill.

This new way is called Sanitary Landfill for Residuals

where only the residues from the processing of municipal

solid waste are buried. Permit solid waste sanitary

landfills to be developed in locations where: (1) the

landfill will not be readily visible from major roads and

development; (2) there will not be major conflicts with

existing and planned development; (3) adequate lands are

available to buffer adjacent lands from disposal

activities; and (4) groundwater quality would not be

adversely affected

(https://planning.smcgov.org/sites/planning.smcgov.org/file

s/documents/files/GP%20Ch%2013-Solid%20Waste

%20Policies.pdf)

The aim of this study is to locate suitable sites to

establish a RSL in the island of Tinos using GIS technology

and taking into account the legislation and factors such as

environmental, economic and social. In order to attain the

optimal location for the RSL the method of geographically

overlay will be used. Geographically overlay can locate the

most suitable sites in the form of zones that vary from the

most inappropriate areas to the most appropriate areas to

build a RSL site.

Initially an analysis of the study area will take place

that will present all the physical and human

characteristics of this area. Next the methodology of

geographically overlay is presented. This methodology will

be launched by setting the criteria for analysis and

creating a database that will be used later in the process.

These criteria are derived from legislation and similar

studies. They consist of physical, environmental and

socioeconomic criteria. Similar studies have been carried

all over the world thus some of the criteria are already

taken into consideration to be in the database. The case

studies are coming from Greece as well as other countries

like China, Turkey, Iran, Serbia and India. These countries

are chosen because the primary form of municipal solid

waste management is Sanitary Landfills like in Greece.

A study in China that took place in Beijing used as

criteria the distance to residential areas, the distance to

rivers and lakes, the distance to the airport, the

underground aquifer criterion, the types of land use, the

percentage of slope, the land price, the distance to the

road network and finally the distance to production areas

(Guiqin et al. 2009). In Turkey a study that took place in

Corlu and in Trabzon, the criteria consisted of the depth

of underwater aquifer, the lithology, the permeability of

the soil and rocks, the degree of slope, the distance to

rivers and lakes, the distance to the airport, the distance

to residential areas, the distance to industrial areas,

road network criterion, the distance to faults and the

distance to cultural important areas (Orhan 2013, Ersoy et

al. 2009). In Iran the study took place in Hamedan province

and in Mahshahr County and the criteria taken into

consideration consisted of the wind direction, the soil

permeability, the groundwater quality, the type of land

use, the sensitivity of the ecosystem, the distance to

urban and rural areas, the slope percentage, the distance

to waste generation places and the distance to water

surfaces (Ghobadi et al. 2012, Alavi et al. 2013). Next in

Serbia the study took place in Srem region and the criteria

consisted of the geomorphology criterion, the litho-

structural criterion, the depth of underground water table,

the lineaments restriction factor, the regional resource

for water supply restriction, the protected areas

criterion, the land use criterion, the surface waters

factor, the aspect criterion, the settlements factor, the

cultural heritage restriction, the slope criterion, the

traffic infrastructure criterion, the airports criterion,

the nonferrous exploitation fields criterion, the energy

infrastructure criterion, the seismic criterion and finally

the state border criterion (Vasiljevic et al. 2012). Moving

to India the study took place in Varanasi area and the

criteria consisted of the proximity to settlements and to

city area, the proximity to highways, the proximity to

water bodies, the proximity to other roads, the proximity

to airports, the type of soil, the degree of slope, the

proximity to forest area, the proximity to railways and if

there is a flood plain (Ohri 2013).

Finally, in Greece a study that took place in Thrace region

and the criteria chosen consisted of the lithology types,

Natura 2000 areas, the distance to rivers and water bodies,

Forest areas, the rainfall criterion, wetlands criterion,

the distance to residential areas, the distance to

commercial-industrial areas, the types of land use, areas

with strong winds, the distance to road network, the

distance to the airport, the distance to transportation

network, the distance to ancient monuments- parks,

socioeconomic criteria and the salt marshes criterion

(Demesouka et al. 2010).

Once the database is created, it is imported into GIS

environment in order to create the levels of analysis for

the multi-criteria grid analysis (using especially tools

like map algebra). The result of this process is the

zonation of the study area according to suitability for the

placement of the Residual Sanitary Landfill. Next,

following the outputs of this analysis, the exact location

of the landfill will be decided. Finally the results will

be presented in the form of maps, which then they will be

analyzed in order to present the final conclusions.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1 Study area

Tinos Island (Fig. 1) is located in the Northern part of

Cyclades (thus, an insular environment which is very

important factor for the above mentioned methodology),

southeast of Andros Island and northwest of Mykonos Island.

Covering an area of 197km2, is the third larger island in

Cyclades following Andros and Naxos. The coastline is

deeply partitioned, with many inlets and capes, and a total

length of 114 km. The topography is characterized as semi-

mountainous, with a highest altitude of 726 m. The island

is covered only by a very small percentage of forest areas.

The plain areas are also limited in extent, covering 29% of

the island’s surface and are mainly created in the

estuaries of its largest torrents. Tinos ground surface is

rocky with intense erosion phenomena. Finally, the climate

is temperate Mediterranean and is characterized by cool

summers and mild winters. According to the latest

population census in 2011 the island’s permanent residents

are 8.590. Tinos suffers from strong population pressures

due to intense tourism mainly during the summer period,

fact that sets the problem of urban solid waste management

as extremely important.

Fig. 1 Study area

2.2 Data

For the geographical analysis of the spatial data and the

creation of a Spatial Database, ESRI ArcMAP version 10.2

was used. The spatial data which are used for the analysis

and are restricted by a number of criteria, are based on

the Greek legislation for RSL. The primary geographical

data that were produced or obtained for the creation of the

Spatial GeoDataBase are the followings:

ASTER GDEM version 2 (obtained from

http://www.jspacesystems.or.jp/ersdac/GDEM/E/4.ht

ml).

Rivers (digitized using Google Earth).

Coastline (digitized using Google Earth).

Reservoir and Dam areas (digitized using Google

Earth).

Forest, olive groves, vineyards and irrigated

areas (Ilot program).

Natura areas (obtained from www.geodata.gov.gr).

City – village centers (digitized using Google

Earth).

Cultural areas (digitized using Google Earth).

Heliport (digitized using Google Earth).

Scenic areas (Volax area, ΑΤ5011031, obtained

from

http://filotis.itia.ntua.gr/biotopes/d/1381/).

Faults (digitized from Tinos’ geological map,

IGME)

Unconsolidated surfaces (digitized from Tinos’

geological map, IGME).

Road network (digitized using Google Earth).

2.3 Methodology

The methodology of this research paper lies on the creation

of a suitable GeoDataBase which consists by the above-

mentioned primary data. The general idea is through a

literature and Greek legislation review to generate this

appropriate GeoDataBase in order to apply the proposed

methodology (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 Flow chart of the methodology

After the creation of the GeoDataBase, the secondary

geographical data are produced based on specific criteria.

The criteria are applied through the spatial analysis in a

binary format, whereas the value 0 is for the areas that

are suitable for instalment of a RSL and the value 1 is for

the unsuitable areas. The main secondary data (criteria)

which are based on their suitability are:

Distance from rivers more than 500m (>500m)

Distance from dam and reservoir more than 1000m

(>1000m)

Distance from coastline more than 500m (>500m)

Non forest areas

Non olive groves, vineyards and irrigated areas

Non Natura 2000 areas

Distance from cities – villages more than 500m

(>500m)

Non cultural areas

Distance from heliport more than 1000m (>1000m)

Non scenic areas

Slope lower than 15% (<15%)

Distance from tectonic lines (faults) more than

500m (>500m)

Non pervious surface

Distance from roads more than 100m (>100m)

The next step after the creation of the secondary

geographical datasets was the cartographic overlay and the

creation of an output layer which represents suitable and

unsuitable areas for placing a RSL. Afterwards, emphasizing

in special characteristics that Tinos has, such as being a

touristic attractive area and also an island region, the

visibility of the possible RSL areas from a city / village

center and odor nuisance based on the prevailing direction

of the wind were considered.

Therefore, two more layers are created and in addition an

overlay is produced combining them with previously main

overlay (Fig. 3). The geographical data that were created

in a respective binary format and their criteria are:

a) The visible and not visible areas from cities /

villages.

b) A layer that will indicate the areas that are been

affecting by the prevailing winds (prevailing wind

direction for Tinos Island is North and Southwest).

Fig. 3 The proposed methodology

3. Results and Discussion

The final overlay of the selected criteria (grid layers)

took place in order the suitable locations (for placing a

RSL) to be revealed. As it mentioned before the final 14

selected criteria are: Distance from rivers >500m, Distance

from dam and reservoir >1000m, Distance from coastline

>500m, Non forest areas, Non olive groves, vineyards and

irrigated areas, Non Natura 2000 areas, Distance from

cities – villages >500m, Non cultural areas, Distance from

heliport >1000m, Non scenic areas, Slope lower than 15%,

Distance from faults 500m, Non pervious surfaces, Distance

from roads >100m. The map that is produced from the overlay

of these layers is presented in the next picture (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Overlay map of the initial criteria

As we can see in this map, after the overlay, a new layer

with 9 classes (0-8) was created. Due to the fact that all

the 14 initial layers had zero (0) value as the desirable

one (e.g. all distances from rivers beyond 500m had zero as

pixel value), the pixels with zero value are the suitable

areas for placing a RSL.

As Tinos is a touristic island, it is desirable to avoid

conflicts between touristic activities and municipal

wastes. For this reasons a new criterion (visibility of the

RSL from cities / villages) was adopted (visibility

analysis). This new criterion is presented below (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5 Map of the visibility criterion (Dark areas are visually protected)

Besides this aesthetic criterion, another one, criterion

was adopted. This, actually, is a nuisance criterion of

scents carried due to the wind. In this criterion the areas

that are been affected from the prevailing winds are

excluded. The map of this criterion is presented in the

next figure (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6 Map of the nuisance criterion (Black areas are protected)

The final overlay of the last three layers is the final

product of this methodology. It is a layer that

demonstrates the areas that are suitable for placing the

RSL, and is presented in the following figure (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7 Suitable areas for siting a RSL (blue color) and the 10 biggest areas for siting a RSL (yellow color)

From this last map it is obvious that there are several

places, that this current methodology revealed, that can be

used for siting a RSL. Quantifying this layer, it is easy

to measure all the suitable areas. The values of the ten

biggest areas based on the above quantification are

presented in the next table (Table 1).

Table 1 The 10 biggest suitable areas

ID AREA (Km2)1 0.492 0.343 0.264 0.265 0.236 0.237 0.218 0.219 0.2110 0.19

From this table it is obvious that for siting a RSL with

all the necessary installations the available areas vary

from almost 0.5Km2 (the biggest one) to very small areas.

Most of the suitable areas are at the north part of the

island (without road and river network, without Natura

areas etc).

The final selection for siting the RSL depends on many

other parameters. First of all, it depends on the amount of

the municipal wastes (this will give the size of the RSL).

It, also, depends on what kind of RSL will be installed.

This methodology revealed many places that are suitable

based on the adopted criteria, but some of them have very

small areas. Therefore, based on the size of the RSL must

be excluded.

4. Conclusion

This current research paper is a pointing effort for

locating suitable places for placing RSL. The chosen study

area is Tinos Island, which is an insular environment which

is under great pressure especially during the summer period

due to the tourists. The proposed methodology is based on

legislation, environmental, economic and social criteria.

In order to locate suitable places for RSL the GIS

technology was adopted. Several layers which represent the

above-mentioned criteria were the elements of a GeoDataBase

which was created.

The appropriate secondary processing of these data

demonstrated the proper positions for each of them. The

superposition of all these layers has shown the final

positions for placing RSL. Two extra criteria were used in

order this modeling to be closer to the reality of a region

which is very crowded during the summer period. The first

is an aesthetic criterion (visibility) and the second is a

nuisance criterion of scents carried due to the wind.

The final product of this current methodology is a map that

indicates the suitable areas for placing RSL. There are

several places (ten different areas were indicated) in the

island of Tinos based on this methodology, which are

suitable for placing RSL.

References

Alavi, N., Goudarzi, G., Babaei, A. A., Jaafarzadeh,

N., & Hosseizadeh M. (2013) Municipal solid waste

landfill site selection with geographic information

systems and analytical hierarchy process a case study

in Mahshahr County, Iran. Waste Management and

Research,Vol.31(1), pp 98–105

Demesouka, O.E., Varatsikos, A.P., & Anagnostopoulos,

K.P. (2013) Suitability analysis for siting MSW

landfills and its multicriteria spatial decision

support system: Method, Implementation and case study.

Waste Management, Vol. 33, pp 1190-1206

Ersoy, H., & Bulut, F. (2009) Spatial and multi-

criteria decision analysis-based methodology for

landfill site selection in growing urban regions.

Waste Management & Research, Vol.27, pp 489–500

Ghobadi, M.H., Babazadeh, R., & Bagheri, V. (2013)

Siting MSW landfills by combining AHP with GIS in

Hamedan province, western Iran. Environment Earth

Science, Vol. 70, pp. 1823-1840

Guiqin, W., Li, Q., Guoxue, L., & Lijun, C. (2009)

Landfill site selection using spatial information

technologies and AHP: A case study in Beijing, China.

Journal of Environmental Management, Vol.90, pp 2414–

2421

Ohri, A. (2013) GIS based environmental decision

support system for municipal landfill site selection.

Management of Environmental Quality: An International

Journal, Vol. 24, pp 583-598

Orhan, A. (2013) Municipal solid waste landfill site

selection using geographical information systems: a

case study from Corlu, Turkey, Saudi Society for

Geosciences 2013

Zelenovic´ Vasiljevic´, T., Srdjevic´, Z., Bajcˇetic´,

R., & Vojinovic´ Miloradov, M. (2012) GIS and the

Analytic Hierarchy Process for Regional Landfill Site

Selection in Transitional Countries: A Case Study from

Serbia. Environmental Management, Vol. 49, pp 445-458