Environmental impact analysis using fuzzy relation for landfill siting

Technological and industrial developmental project activities disturb the natural ecosystem and have multiple direct and indirect environmental consequences. The disposal of waste material, being a prominent activity that accompanies any industrial development, is a problem of ever-increasing concern. Therefore it is of immense importance to establish appropriate sites for waste disposal facilities such as landfills. To select an appropriate landfill site with minimal environmental damage, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is necessary. Available methods to carry out an EIA are insufficient for cumulative assessment and inappropriate to make the final decision regarding the selection of a landfilling site, nor do they take uncertainty and future impacts into account. The present work implements fuzzy logic, which takes uncertainty into account in assessing the environmental impact of landfill siting and considers future impacts in terms of frequency of occurrence. A new approach that considers numeric values of the weights in terms of fuzzy membership is examined, the potential applicability of the method is tested, and results are compared with those of other common existing methods.