Applications of Geographic Information Systems to Site Waste Facilities in Saskatchewan—Phase 1

On average, Saskatchewan has the highest number of waste disposal grounds, with approximately 454.4 landfills per million people. Saskatchewan residents generate more non-hazardous solid waste than most other Canadian provinces and territories. One of the key strategic goals of the 2019 Saskatchewan Solid Waste Management Strategy (SWMS) is to regionalize the province and proceed towards having fewer larger landfills than numerous smaller landfills. To make this happen, transfer stations or facilities play a key role. GIS approaches have been successfully applied to site waste disposal sites and landfills, and the present work aims to utilize GIS to study the spatial distribution of landfills and transfer stations in Saskatchewan. Distribution of existing transfer facilities and the new stations being planned, in relation to the existing operational landfills will be the key focus. LTR (Landfill-to-Transfer Facility Ratio), which is operational landfill to active transfer facilities ratio is introduced, to examine the present spatial distribution ratio, which enables future planning in siting new transfer stations. The objectives of this study are to (i) investigate the distribution of operational and closed landfills and transfer stations in Saskatchewan, (ii) compute landfill-to-transfer facility ratio (LTR) to examine present spatial distribution relationship they share and, (iii) identify subdivisions where future transfer stations can be set up. This study is highly practical, and the results are valuable to local waste managers and policymakers.