SUMMARY
This paper provides a macro-evaluation of a geographic information system (GIS) criteria analysis model developed with consideration of sustainability aspects to study the suitability of landfill sites based on two analysis: quality and quantity. The two parallel analysis approaches were an integrated structure that models the high-suitability of landfill sites based on location and size preferences. The structure of qualitative analysis for selecting landfill sites breaks down into 3 levels of evaluation, which are the following: 1st level is sustainability groups (environmental and socioeconomic), 2nd level has GIS criteria, and 3rd level has classes for each criterion. The quality analysis for GIS based model provides 3 scenarios to reflect the importance of sustainability aspects. An analytical hierarchal process (AHP) integrated with GIS data provides weights and scores for criteria and their classes. The rate of mass of solid waste generated in this study was Predicting for Kuwait as an average of 1.59 kg per capita per day. In the results of the quality analysis from GIS-based modeling, the sites were ranked as highly suitable (above 90%), moderately suitable (50–90%), lowly suitable (below 50%), and unsuitable sites (0%). The results of the quantity analysis demonstrated that sustainable areas need between 3 and 18 km2 for landfills designed to last 20 years. Two factors, landfill depth and compacted unit weight, were used to determine the area needed to design a sustainable landfill based on the rate of mass of solid waste generated. The outcomes of the 3 scenarios of the quality and quantity analyses provided 3 significant sites south of Kuwait and one site north of Kuwait, while the rest of the candidate sites were close to urban areas and major roads. Overall, this study found that the area needed per year for landfills designed for over 20 years ranged between 0.2 and 1.0 km2 based on the average compacted unit weight, 8.26 KN/m3, and landfill depth variable. The outcomes of this study were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively to provide a GIS-based model with a list of criteria for the sustainable selection of landfill sites and analysis for selecting the necessary area and depth of landfill.