| Landfill site selection is becoming increasingly difficult because of growing environmental and public health concerns and increasing scarcity of land for landfill construction. The City and County of Honolulu recently encountered difficulties in selecting a new landfill site. Developing a consistent and reasonable methodology is critically important.;This study develops an integrative methodology that links a geographic information system (GIS)-based analysis with an economic framework. The basic site selection framework minimizes social costs given constraints (exclusionary criteria based on rules and restrictions) using a two-part process: (i) a GIS-based screening of potential sites that satisfy constraints and (ii) benefits transfer methods (e.g., meta-analysis and mean transfer value approaches) that rank the selected sites according to social cost minimization. Meta-analysis models are evaluated in terms of sensitivity, validity, and reliability criteria. Sensitivity analysis examines aggregate values in response to changes in a selected variable (e.g., income, distance from target sites, discount rates, and lengths of landfill life). Validity requires statistical tests (e.g., t and sign rank tests) to examine differences between transfer values and original values. Reliability checks their similarity by utilizing an absolute percentage difference measure.;The GIS-based analysis was conducted on: (i) the City's 45 potential sites (Scenario 1) and (ii) the entire island of Oahu (Scenario 2). Together, both scenarios found 7 sites that satisfied the exclusionary criteria. Benefits transfer (BT) results indicate: (i) social costs are high, and (ii) social costs vary by target sites due to market conditions (e.g., income levels, housing values, population densities, and the number of households), different methods used (e.g., a contingent valuation method and a hedonic price method), different models used (e.g., meta-analysis (MA) models 1 and 2), and landfill life lengths. In terms of the sensitivity, validity, and reliability criteria, meta-analysis models are preferred to the mean transfer value approach. This study provides a potential method that evaluates and illustrates the process of site selection which can be applied to other site selection process (e.g., hazardous waste sites and incinerators). Further research is needed to analyze public preferences incorporating various individuals, groups, and minority populations. |
