Determining solid waste Landfill Sites for Expanded Mosul: Operational and Environmental Analysis

Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, faces a severe environmental challenge due to the lack of an effective solid waste management system. The city currently relies on random landfills within its residential areas, leading to serious environmental and health pollution. In addition, the city's significant population growth, exceeding 2.5% annually, resulted in the approval of the relevant authorities in 2024 to expand the administrative boundaries of Mosul by 7 kilometers in all directions. This study aims to identify the optimal sites for solid waste landfills in Mosul after the expansion, while providing an analysis of the operational and environmental requirements of these sites. Eleven factors affecting site selection were studied and incorporated into the updated Geographic Information Systems (GIS PRO vir 10.3). The results showed that several sites meet these requirements on each side of the city. The results indicated that the actual landfill area required is 1,000 dunams for each side of the city, based on the daily waste generation rate per person and the future population projection for the design period of 25 years. Operational analyses indicate that at least 7,865 homes could benefit annually from the biogas produced at the proposed landfills, with this number expected to increase steadily over time. The estimated annual greenhouse gas emissions (methane and carbon dioxide) are 5,104,035 cubic meters. This study can inform a sustainable urban planning plan for Mosul.