Optimal Landfill
Dynamic Diagram-Geographic Information System Analysis
Project Type
Individual Work
Upenn MLA course
Media3
LARP 543
Instructor
Keith VanDerSys
Tess Ruswick
Tools
CIS
Illustrator
Photoshop
After Effect
BACKGROUND
01 Challenge
Where is the suitable site for Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) landfill?
Solid waste disposal is one of the most significant environmental problem in the world,
arising from the urbanization. As "Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan of Pennsylvania(2019)" states:
Each county in Pennsylvanis needs to secure ten years of disposal capacity for municipal waste generated from within its borders. Under this background, the site selection of landfill is the most important process of waste management system, which directly concerns with environmental justice and collective wellbeing.
02 Criteria
There are three main factors to be taken into consideration during the site selection: geography, transportation, and public health. For geography consideration, a suitable landfill site must be placed and designed to meet the essential conditions for checking the contamination of groundwater, surface water, and pollution of the soil(away from groundwater table). A preferred soil type of the site is clay loam to clay where the slope should be relatively small in a low elevation. Besides, the landfill site should be located near the existing roads to the transportation and collection cost. Also, existing settlement and build-up conditions are essential criteria to locate this landfill for public health consideration. Vacant barren land could be a great choice and at the same time, the MSW landfill site should stay at a safe distance from sensitive places.
