Characterization of municipal solid waste temporary storage sites: risks posed to surrounding areas as a consequence of fire incidents

Abstract

In this study temporary storage sites of municipal solid waste were characterized based on their potential social, health and environmental impacts as a consequence of spontaneous fires, by employing Boolean as well as weighted-linear-combination approaches in connection with various fuzzy set functions of population density around the storage sites. Sweden was used as the case study and data from 105 storage sites were analysed; of these, 38 were identified to be posing high risk for downwind residing population. Furthermore, during the past 10years, the fire frequency and the average population residing within a radius of 1, 2, and 3km were found to be comparatively higher for storage sites owned by private companies than for those owned by municipalities. The study provided first-cut information of poorly sited temporary storage sites and can help in formalizing the comprehensive risk analysis in the future.

Keywords: Municipal solid waste; Organic materials; Recyclables; Risk analysis; Risk of fires; Temporary storage sites; Weighted linear combination.