Modeling environmental susceptibility of municipal solid waste disposal sites in regional scale

• Autor(a) principal: Victor Fernandez Nascimento
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações do INPE
• Texto Completo: http://urlib.net/sid.inpe.br/mtc-m21b/2017/04.10.17.59

The world population is increasing and since the last decade is considered predominantly urban. The enormous population growth is causing changes in the Earth System that can have serious and lasting consequences. Anthropogenic activities in urban areas are always associated with municipal solid waste (MSW) production. Currently, the MSW generation in the world does not favor an appropriate use of natural resources and the large amount of MSW generated exceeds the capacity of the environment to decompose and recycle these wastes through natural processes. Properly managing this MSW is a global environmental challenge. The improper Municipal solid waste disposal (MSWD) locally cause environmental impacts, such as contamination of soil and water sources, and also globally cause environmental impacts, such as increase of Greenhouse gases (GHG) due to methane emissions. The main objective of this thesis is to contribute to Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) through the environmental susceptibility analysis of Municipal solid waste disposal sites (MSWDS) in regional scale from an interdisciplinary overview. This thesis explored an innovative modeling approach using Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and Analytic hierarchy processes (AHP) coupled with Geographic information system (GIS) to develop an environmental impact susceptibility model (EISM) for MSWDS. The model was applied for the two most populous states and largest MSW generators in South and North America, São Paulo state and California state, respectively. The EISM considers factors such as geology, pedology, geomorphology, water resources, and climate represented by several sub-factors that vary according to the geographical characteristics of the area and data availability. The results of this thesis demonstrate that approximately half of MSW generated in California and São Paulo state is disposed in environmentally susceptible areas and can cause several impacts on the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. In summary, the EISM findings can help decision makers, landfill managers, and local governments develop control and mitigation measures against the occurrence of negative environmental impacts caused by MSWDS.