A GIS-based system for allocating municipal solid waste incinerator compensatory fund

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Public Policy
• Spatial Analysis

Background:

• Municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator construction in Taiwan faces NIMBY (not in my back yard) opposition.
• Compensatory funding is used to gain community acceptance in impacted areas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a spatial methodology for logical distribution of compensatory funds based on environmental impact.
• To ensure equitable fund allocation to neighborhoods affected by MSW incinerators.

Main Methods:

• Integration of ten impact factors using mathematical models and spatial analyses.
• Application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for neighborhood evaluation.
• Development of a GIS-based system for score assignment and visualization.

Main Results:

• Air quality impact received the highest weight (0.2894) due to resident concerns.
• High impact scores were assigned to neighborhoods hosting incinerators and those with maximum particulate air pollution.
• Fund distribution was directly linked to calculated environmental impact scores.

Conclusions:

• The proposed spatial methodology provides a logical and data-driven approach to compensatory fund distribution.
• The GIS-based system effectively visualizes impact and fund allocation for transparency.
• This approach is adaptable for other MSW incinerators facing similar environmental impact and compensation challenges.