Optimizing Solid Waste Transfer Station Siting in Addis Ababa Using a GIS and Remote Sensing-Driven Spatial Decision Support System

Abstract Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is one of the most issues in the contemporary urban environments particularly in Ethiopia. An increase in population size makes solid waste management system complex and difficult especially in the city of Addis Ababa. Solid waste transfer station is a component of solid waste management system that established near to residential areas used to store solid wastes temporarily. The objective of this study is to select potential sites for solid waste transfer stations using GIS and RS techniques in the city of Addis Ababa. GIS based Multi-Criteria Evaluation method was used to select the potential sites in the study area. About ten physical and social criteria were used to select the sites. All factor maps were geo-referenced and reclassified according to their suitability based on norms and standards of solid waste transfer station sites selection. Weights for each criterion were assigned based on Analytical Hierarchy Process using pairwise comparison matrix. The value judgment consistency of this study was 7.4% and found within acceptable limits. After assigning weights, all criteria were combined (WLC) to get the most suitable sites for transfer stations and based on the overlay result a thematic map of the selected potential sites was produced. From the total study area about 12.8% was found as the most suitable potential sites and 73.3% was unsuitable for the stations among the selected potential sites the largest part was found in the southern part of the study area specifically in Akaki sub-city. The selected potential sites were fulfilled social, economic and environmental norms and standards used to select solid waste transfer stations potential sites in the study area. Therefore, decision makers should give a due attention towards social, economic, and environmental norms and standards to select solid waste transfer stations potential sites to improve solid waste management system in the city of Addis Ababa.