Introduction

Finding appropriate landfill sites is one of the most important phases of solid waste management (SWM) in developed countries. In North America and Europe, for example, determining a landfill site is a time-consuming process that requires exhaustive government and public interactions. Success of landfill siting depends on various factors such as facility design, environmental impact, and community values and support (Zeiss and Lefsrud 1996). In general, a successful site selection process satisfies the public health and safety, environmental, social, and economic requirements, and meets the following goals: (i) minimizing the health risks to the public, (ii) minimizing the impact on the natural environment and resources, (iii) maximizing the levels of services to facility users, and (iv) minimizing the cost to facility users (McBean et al. 1995).

Landfill siting is a complex, time-consuming, and difficult process. For the acceptable landfill site selection, an appropriate evaluation method should be in place (Cao et al. 2006). Identifying the factors to be used in rationally evaluating the site is a prerequisite and the basis for the landfill site selection. There are a number of such factors including environmental (geological, hydrological, ecological), socioeconomic, and political factors. All critical factors and criteria must be laid out and carefully analyzed. Of the important focus of the residents, pollution, and related health effects have the highest rating. In addition, importance has been given to solid waste sitting by the residents, which has been reflected by the residents’ concern and attitudes to construction of the solid waste facility. At the same time, the opposition of residents has decreased for residents who have visited a solid waste dumping site or facility (Rahardyant et al. 2004).

In the Palestine territory, the past SWM practices required little consideration of social, economic, and environmental factors (Talahmeh 2005). Solid wastes of various types were disposed of randomly at open areas or abandoned stone quarries; most of which were located far away from residential areas when the waste dumping was started. However, as the population of communities grew and the boundaries of residential areas expanded, uncontrolled dumpsites have become environmental and public health concerns, especially near public housing areas. The major concerns include increasing traffic, noise, odors, the potential for explosion, deterioration of water quality, and the decrease of property values (UNEP 2002). Skilled manpower, inadequate level of waste hazardous perception of the inhabitants, proper national policies and legislation to ensure equitable solid waste collection and proper related services, and solid waste management programs and awareness campaign are all vital factors for the success of any future solid waste projects in the developing countries (Al-Khatib et al. 2015). Improper solid waste disposal in random dumping sites could lead to environmental hazard, which is mainly due to the uncontrolled seepage of the highly poisonous leachate, and though resulting in pollution of the environmental resources (i.e., water and land) and a consequent threat to public health (Al-Khatib et al. 2015; Edjabou et al. 2012). Most of the landfill sites across the world are not engineered to prevent contamination of the underlying groundwater by the leachate. The pollutants from landfill leachate have and detrimental accumulative effect on the food chains and ecology leading to genotoxicity, acute toxicity, and carcinogenic effects among human beings (Mukherjee et al. 2015).

In the West Bank, the rapid population growth is calling for development of new landfills where solid waste can be safely disposed of. A household environmental survey conducted in the Palestinian territory in 2005 estimated that solid waste was generated at a rate of 2728 t per day, and an average daily generation of household solid waste was 4.6 kg per household or 0.7 kg per capita (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2005). In 2001, there were 133 solid waste dumpsites in the West Bank (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2002). Solid waste was most commonly open burned at 116 sites and buried at only 13 sites. Inevitably, the development of environmentally safe and sound landfills is necessary. In addition, the groundwater quality can be affected by leachate percolation that is produced from the decomposition of solid waste. Trace elements such as cadmium and lead could also cause groundwater contamination; this warns up for the groundwater quality and thus make the associated aquifer unreliable for domestic uses. Possibility of ground water contamination by the leachate necessitates some remedial measures to reduce contamination, such as ground lining, leachate concentration, and reuse on situ of the landfill (Mor et al. 2006; Renou et al. 2008).

In the Palestinian territories, more than 98 % of the population have municipal solid collection, but such waste is disposed without proper safety measures nor suitable and sanitary landfill. Instead, such waste is being burned in open and unplanned dumping sites adjacent to the residential areas, resulting in serious health problems (Al-Khatib et al. 2007). Since its onset, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has put special interest on solid waste management due to its environmental, economic, and social effects. To make such interest true, the PA has prepared the first Palestinian Law of 1999, which is partly dealing with landfills and its environmental characteristics. In addition, the PA has launched some regional sanitary landfills projects such as Zahrat al Finjan located in Jenin District (Al-Khatib et al. 2015).

In the present environmental and socioeconomic situations, landfilling is the most economical and environmentally safe method for the disposal of solid waste in the Palestinian territory. However, the safety of landfilling must be evaluated based on the fundamental environmental and socioeconomic principles, not on the public image or political risk (Chilton 1993).

Due to increasing public awareness and concerns, public participation in SWM is rising in many municipalities (Joos et al. 1999; Ishizaka and Tanaka 2003). The public concern over potential health risks and environmental impacts generally arises during a site selection phase (Vittes et al. 1993; Nunan 1996). If public participation in the planning and implementation were neglected, opposition to the candidate site would arise, resulting in a significant delay in the process and an increase in the SWM costs. The residents’ attitude toward different steps of SWM is important to ensure SWM success and environmental sustainability. Active residents’ participation is an important factor that should be considered in different steps of SWM. Residents’ participation can be achieved by arranging educational programs, public workshops, and active involvement of the neighboring residents to the selected solid waste site since the first step of planning (Al-Khatib et al. 2014; De Feo et al. 2013). Taking residents’ opinion on sitting solid waste dumping can have a decisive role for the success and acceptance of SWM (De Feo et al. 2013). The “not in my backyard” or “not in anyone’s backyard” phenomena may escalate public anger and create a considerable pressure on the decision makers who are involved in a landfill site selection. Other issues that would complicate the site selection process are the availability of land, public acceptance, and increasing rates of waste generation. Solid waste disposal facilities that are poorly planned and designed will adversely affect the local environment, and economic and sociocultural situations (Chang et al. 2008).

This study focuses on public perception of open dumpsites and public opinions about the siting of sanitary landfills in the West Bank, particularly the “Nablus,” “Salfit,” and “Ramallah and Al-Bireh” districts. The study will take a large geographic area to be studied which has not done by other researchers. In addition and unlike other studies, the study will also take into consideration the effect of diverse social, economic, and environmental related factors on siting suitable landfill sites. The main objectives are to quantify and analyze public awareness on the following: (i) the adverse effects of solid waste dumps on the environment and (ii) the environmental and socioeconomic criteria for siting of sanitary landfills. This study is the first attempt to determine the public concerns and perceptions of solid waste dumps and sanitary landfill siting in the Palestinian territory.

Materials and methods

The survey was conducted during a period between February and April of 2009 and targeted the adult population residing in three Palestinian districts: Nablus, Salfit, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh (Fig. 1). These districts are located in the northern and middle parts of the West Bank-Palestinian territory. The sample size was 1520 residents with a wide spectrum of socioeconomic status.

Fig. 1
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Distribution of localities in Nablus, Salfit, and Ramallah and Al Bireh districts

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Design of questionnaire

This study is based mainly on a questionnaire which was designed to gather public concerns about the existing open dumpsites and opinions on the selection of sanitary landfill site locations. The questionnaire was structured, yet simply designed, pre-tested, and modified to accomplish the study objectives. The first part of the questionnaire covered (i) the socioeconomic features of the population, (ii) the variables related to the residents’ concerns about existing dumpsites, and (iii) the residents’ opinions toward selection of sanitary landfill locations. The questionnaire contained seven independent variables, namely, gender, age, profession, level of education, marital status, locality type, level of income, and district of residence. The questionnaire included the questions to be answered “yes” or “no” and to identify the participants who have general knowledge about problems associated with solid waste dumps. If the answer was yes, then the participant was asked close-ended questions concerning specific environmental problems related to the open dumps.

The second part of the questionnaire was related to siting of the sanitary landfills. The structural framework was comprised of a series of questions related to the economic, environmental, acceptability (safety), political, and social considerations. The participants were asked to choose one of three rankings (very important, slightly important, or not important) to complete the questionnaire. The economic considerations included the distance of waste transport, costs of structural facility (building) and landfill operation, expenses for landfill closure, and job creation opportunities. The environmental considerations included the following: (i) the condition of existing dumpsites; (ii) the contamination of ground water, soil, and air; (iii) the presence of insects and rodents; and (iv) the appropriateness of the landfill site in terms of its effect on biodiversity and wild life.

The survey also stressed the social and economic criteria and addressed the issues lacking in the SWM decision-making processes in the Palestinian territory. The issues included in the survey are as follows: (i) the presence of trash scavengers (pickers), (ii) the approval of the residents for selection of landfill locations, (iii) the media coverage on the environmental problems, and (iv) the effect of traffic flow and property values of the landfill site and its neighboring areas. For simplicity and clarity, certain criteria were given in a short description.

Samples and sampling technique

The number of housing units in each locality area and the total housing units in each district were used as a basis for determining a suitable number of samples that satisfy a predetermined degree of significance. A significance level of 95 % was chosen to calculate the total number of samples for the target districts of Nablus, Salfit, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh. The total number of samples in the three districts is determined using the formula (Al-Bagdadi 2005; Miller et al. 1999):

$$ n=\frac{2N.z{(S)}^2}{N{(d)}^2+{z}^2+{(S)}^2} $$
(1)

where n is the number of household samples, N is the total number of households in the three districts, z is the corresponding z-value for the 95 % significance level, S is the standard deviation of the total number of households in the three districts calculated based on the number of household published by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and d is given by

$$ d={\displaystyle \sum_{n=1}^3\frac{\left|\mathbf{y}\right.-\left.\upmu \right|}{3}} $$
(2)

where ў is the mean number of households in the built-up area in each district, and μ is the grand mean (population mean) of the household numbers in the built-up area in the three districts. The z-value was obtained from an appropriate statistical table, which correlates the level of significance with the z-value. The z-value for the 95 % significance level was found to be 1.96. The total number of household samples necessary for this study was calculated to be 1520.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of the localities surveyed in the three districts: Nablus, Salfit, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh. Proportional stratified random samples were obtained from the three districts as follows. The total number of household samples from each district was determined from the ratio of the total households in the corresponding district to the total number of households in the three districts. In each district, the number of samples was divided into three locality types (i.e., urban, rural, and refugee camps) according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2007 census (PCBS 2009). The number of household samples in each locality type was determined by the ratio of the total number of households in an individual locality type to all the household number in the corresponding district. The calculated numbers of household samples in the urban and refugee camp areas were divided on the existing individual areas, and all the urban and refugee camps were assigned a number of samples proportional to the representation of that area in the population and stratified on the basis of locality type:

$$ \begin{array}{l}\left(\begin{array}{l}\mathrm{Number}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{f}\ \mathrm{household}\ \mathrm{s}\mathrm{amples}\hfill \\ {}\mathrm{in}\ \mathrm{each}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{f}\ \mathrm{in}\mathrm{dividual}\ \mathrm{urban}\hfill \\ {}\mathrm{built}\hbox{-} \mathrm{up}\ \mathrm{area}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{r}\ \mathrm{r}\mathrm{efugee}\ \mathrm{camp}\hfill \end{array}\right)=\\ {}\left(\frac{\begin{array}{l}\mathrm{Number}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{f}\ \mathrm{household}\mathrm{s}\ \mathrm{in}\\ {}\mathrm{in}\mathrm{dividual}\ \mathrm{built}\hbox{-} \mathrm{up}\ \mathrm{area}\end{array}}{\begin{array}{l}\mathrm{Total}\ \mathrm{number}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{f}\ \mathrm{household}\mathrm{s}\ \\ {}\mathrm{in}\ \mathrm{corresponding}\\ {}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{ype}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{f}\ \mathrm{built}\hbox{-} \mathrm{area}\ \Big(\mathrm{i}.\mathrm{e}.,\\ {}\mathrm{urban}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{r}\ \mathrm{camp}\mathrm{s}\Big)\end{array}}\right)\ast \left(\begin{array}{l}\mathrm{Total}\ \mathrm{number}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{f}\ \mathrm{s}\mathrm{amples}\\ {}\mathrm{devoted}\ \mathrm{t}\mathrm{o}\ \mathrm{t}\mathrm{he}\ \mathrm{corresponding}\\ {}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{ype}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{f}\ \mathrm{built}\hbox{-} \mathrm{up}\ \mathrm{area}\mathrm{s}\ \Big(\mathrm{i}.\mathrm{e}.,\\ {}\mathrm{urban}\ \mathrm{o}\mathrm{r}\ \mathrm{camp}\mathrm{s}\Big)\end{array}\right)\end{array} $$

The rural areas were stratified into three categories based on the number of existing households. Category 1 consists of rural areas with 200 households or less. This category corresponds to less than 1000 inhabitants. Category 2 consists of rural areas with a total household number greater than 200 and less than or equal to 400 households. This category is equivalent to the areas with more than 1000 and less than or equal to 2000 inhabitants. The third category includes the rural areas with more than 400 households (more than 2000 inhabitants). Based on these three categories and the ratio of the number of households in each category to the total number of households in all the three categories, the number of rural built-up areas to be included in the sampling was determined. In each category of the rural built-up areas, questionnaires were distributed to a number of representative rural built-up areas, and in accordance to the ratio of the number of households in the individual rural built-up area to the total number of households in the corresponding rural category. Individual household samples were then distributed in each of the representative areas using the random sampling technique. In each representative area, a sequential number was assigned to different households, and then, a random drawing out process was carried out to determine the households that would be asked to fill out the questionnaire.

Pre-testing of the survey was conducted with an expert evaluator from Birzeit University at the West Bank. The questionnaire was translated into Arabic. All responses to the questionnaires were coded for statistical analysis. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.0. Descriptive statistics such as means and ranges were computed for continuous variables, and frequencies and percentages were computed for categorical variables. An appropriate test of significance (chi-squared) was performed to determine the relationships between demographic and socioeconomic variables (the seven independent variables) and the dependent variables.

Results and discussion

Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics

Table 1 shows the surveyed sample distribution based on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. A total of 1520 completed questionnaires were processed. About 69 % of the participants are males and 31 % are females. In terms of age distribution, the largest percentage of the participants is between 20 and 30 years old (33.5 %), and the smallest percentages are those younger than 20 (4.5 %) and older than 60 years old (4.9 %). Of all the participants, 65.1 % are married and 49.8 % received a university education. In terms of profession, the highest percentage (20.8 %) of the respondents is government employees. With respect to the income level, the highest percentage (34.5 %) of the participants has a monthly family income of 1500–2500 New Israeli Shekels (NIS), equivalent to $375–625 (USD), and the lowest percentage (12.8 %) of the respondents have a monthly family income less than 1500 NIS ($375).

Table 1 Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the surveyed sample
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Environmental impacts of existing dumpsites

Randomly discarded industrial and municipal solid wastes are serious environmental and public health issues in the West Bank, Palestinian territory. The survey showed that 64.9 % of the participants are aware of dumpsite problems, 40.4 % had visited a dumpsite at least once, and 41.6 % responded that they are suffering from the problems related to the nearby dumpsite (Table 2). Of the participants, 57.6 % replied that it is not acceptable that the waste generated outside their locality is disposed of at the dumpsite of their locality.

Table 2 Overall results of the survey concerning local dumpsites
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The survey questionnaire further included questions concerning the environmental and health problems associated with the dumpsites. Participants’ responses were sorted in five categories: “visual appearance,” “insects and rodents,” “air pollution (dust, smoke, foul odor),” stray “dogs and other animals,” and “noise pollution.” These categories are ranked based on percentages of the participants’ responses. The results presented in Table 2 show that 64.9 % of the participants have some levels of awareness of the adverse impacts associated with the solid waste dumps, and the remaining 35.1 % do not. Nearly 42 % of the participants responded that they are suffering from dumpsite-related problems. Among the problems (Table 3), visual appearance was raked the highest (90.1 % of the studied population), followed by the insects and rodents (89.3 %), and the “dust, smoke and foul odor” (88.5 %). Noise pollution was ranked the lowest (70.4 %).

Table 3 Ranking of dumpsite effects/impacts based on survey data
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Degree of awareness of existing dumping site problems

A cross-tabulation analysis was performed on the survey data to determine if there are any interrelationships between the socioeconomic characteristics of the sample population and their awareness of the extent of the problems associated with existing dumpsites.

Locality types

Concerning dumpsite impact, a relationship between the locality type and the awareness level of individuals is weak, although there appears to be some trend: 60.0 % of individuals living in refugee camps, 64.9 % in the rural areas, and 65.5 % in the urban areas are aware of the dumpsite problems. These differences in the percentages of awareness levels are shown to be statistically insignificant (χ 2 = 1.219, df = 2, P = 0.544).

Districts

With regard to the residents’ district and level of awareness of potential dumpsite problems, the residents’ district appears to be an important factor (Table 4). The participants in the Salfit district (98.5 %) are more aware of the problems than those in other districts. The difference between the level of awareness and the participant’s district was statistically significant at the 95 % significance level, as supported by the χ 2 test result (χ 2 = 276.0, df = 2, P = 0.000).

Table 4 Cross-classification analysis of the sample socioeconomic
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Ages

The age of individuals is also shown to be an important factor with respect to their awareness of dumpsite problems (Table 4). The young (<18 years old) and old individuals (>55 years old) are more aware of potential dumpsite problems (χ 2 = 27.903, df = 5, P = 0.000).

Gender

The cross tabulation between the gender and the level of awareness of the dumpsite problems shows no significant relationship (χ 2 = 2.819, df = 1, P = 0.053), although the result indicates a lower level of awareness among the female population (61.8 %) than the male population (66.3 %).

Education

Education levels were thought to be the major factor that affects the awareness of waste dump problems. The survey results (Table 4) show that the individuals with a 2-year college diploma or a master’s degree have the highest awareness of the dumpsite problems, followed by individuals with the secondary education or less. It is surprising that the participants with a BSc degree are least aware of the problems. The differences between the participants’ levels of education and awareness are statistically significant at the 95 % significance level (χ 2 = 7.986, df = 3, P = 0.046). Overall, education contributes, to some extent, to the awareness of dumpsite problems.

Marital status

There appears to be some trend that married individuals (61.3 %) have a higher level of awareness than do single individuals (66.1 %), concerning the problems associated with solid waste dumps (Table 4). However, the χ 2 test result shows no significant difference in the awareness level of the participants with different marital status (χ 2 = 6.556, df = 3, P = 0.078).

Occupation

The type of occupation seems to affect the awareness of solid waste dumping problems (Table 4). The results show that individuals in private sectors (72.0 %) have the highest awareness level, followed by government employees (69.6 %) and university students (61.7 %). The differences in the awareness levels of these groups are statistically significant at the 95 % significance level (χ 2 = 27.232, df = 6, P = 0.000).

Income levels

Income levels do not show a strong relationship to awareness levels, although there appears to be some trend (Table 4). The low level of awareness is exhibited by individuals with the lowest income range (<1500 NIS) and those with the highest income range (>4000 NIS). In the income level ranging from 1500 to 4000 NIS, there is an increase in the level of awareness with the increase in the income level, i.e., 65.1 % of the sample population with the income of 1500–2500 NIS and 67.4 % of those with the income of 2501–4000 NIS replied that they are aware of potential problems associated with solid waste dumps. Nevertheless, the differences in the awareness levels among the different income levels are statistically insignificant (χ 2 = 3.364, df = 3, P = 0.339).

Landfill site selection criteria

The survey results for the landfill site selection criteria are presented in Table 5, and the rankings according to the participants’ opinions are given in Table 6. Relative importance (%) of the landfill site selection factors, namely, environmental, social, economic, and political factors, based on the survey results is shown in Fig. 2.

Table 5 Criteria data of survey participants for sanitary landfill site selection
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Table 6 Ranked criteria for sanitary landfill site selection according to public importance
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Fig. 2
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Relative importance of landfill site selection factors according to public opinion

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Environmental factors

Concerning the selection of landfill sites, environmental factors are considered most important. This differs from the site selection criteria in Kuwait, where environmental considerations such as air quality, gas control, depth of water table, soil barriers, and vector control were rated as the fifth to ninth important criteria, respectively, by the sample respondents in Kuwait. The problems range from aquifer contamination, gas migration, leachate migration, diseases spread from pollution, etc. (Al-Yaqout et al. 2002). In this study of the environmental factors, air pollution is considered the most important (90.5 %), followed by ground water pollution (90.3 %) and infestation of insects and rodents (85.7 %). Conservation of wildlife (79.2 %) is perceived to be of least concern. In the Palestinian territory, about 25 % of the households were reported to be exposed to air pollution in forms of odor, dust, smoke, or other pollutants (PCBS 2006). Among the households who have been exposed to smoke occasionally or often, 48.4 % of the participants consider that open burning of solid waste is the major source of smoke and dust, and 18.6 % consider transportation of solid waste as their primary source of smoke and dust (PCBS 2006). In a study conducted in Japan, it was found that residents were concerned about the movement of transportation vehicles, which may affect the safety of their children as well as create noise and odor nuisance. However, only 45 % of municipal officers agreed (Ishizaka and Tanaka 2003).

Most of the localities (cities, villages, and refugee camps) studied are currently using open dumpsites that are not meeting human health and safety requirements. None of the waste disposal practices encountered in this study is at the level of acceptable standards. There is high potential for the residents to be exposed to the hazardous conditions (high levels of contaminants in air, water, and soil) in the Palestinian districts. These conditions are particularly serious for the people living in close proximity to the dumps.

In the West Bank, most of the dumpsites are located either adjacent to urbanized areas or agricultural arable land. In addition to municipal waste, biomedical wastes, waste oil, and other hazardous wastes are known to be disposed of in those dumpsites (Al-Khatib et al. 2007). These dumpsites are potentially contaminating water supplies. Many industries, for example, the leather tanning, shoe making, ceramics and glass, electroplating, and metal industries, are located in the Hebron City, and their wastes are being disposed of in the surrounding agricultural land. These wastes are becoming major sources for the accumulation of pollutants (e.g., heavy metals) in soil, and subsequently contaminating groundwater. Additional sources of soil contamination exist in limestone waste slurry, which is being generated at a number of the cutting stone factories located in the Hebron district. An estimated 7500 t of building stone slag are produced annually, contributing to the SWM problems in the West Bank (Dudeen 2007).

The climate in the region of the Palestinian territory is characterized as arid to semi-arid with very limited water resources. In this region, most fresh water comes from scarce groundwater and water is one of the most important and sensitive issues as decreasing quantity and quality of available water is imminent (Al-Khatib et al. 2003). It is expected that growing population and subsequent water demands exert heavy pressure on very limited groundwater reserves (Nasserdin et al. 2009), and thus, groundwater is considered one of the most important factors for the selection of landfill sites.

Concerning solid waste landfills, public health and safety are less of an issue in developed countries such as the USA as they are well designed, managed, and regulated (Fort and Scarlett 1993). In the Palestinian territory, however, environmental problems arising from landfills are posing serious safety threats to the public. Accordingly, the Palestinian municipalities and local councils must deal with challenging uncontrolled dumpsites (Al-Khatib and Safiya 2003). Landfill gas emission creates offensive odor and frequently causes fires. The fire, in turn, causes a public nuisance and creates a potential hazard to public health, safety, and well-being, as well as the environment. At present, there are 156 solid waste dumping areas in the West Bank, while there is only one sanitary landfill that is being operated in the Jenin district (i.e., Zahrat Al-Finjan sanitary landfill). Despite intensive efforts directed toward solid waste recycling, a land disposal option remains and will remain as an integral and major part of the SWM practices (Al-Jarrah and Abu-Qdais 2006). Because available land is very limited in the Palestine territory, the development of new landfills poses huge challenges.

Social factors

For the selection of sanitary landfill sites, “social considerations” was ranked second in importance following “environmental considerations” (Fig. 2). Among the social factors, “fairness in selecting landfill site” was chosen to be the most important factor. This finding appears to point to limited options for landfill siting due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli military forces on the Palestinian lands (Talahmeh and Al-Khatib 2008).

The political geography of the West Banks is as complex as its history. The 1993 Oslo Accords declared the final status of the West Bank to be subject to a forthcoming resolution between Israel and the Palestinian leadership. Following these interim accords, Israel withdrew its military rule from some parts of the West Bank. The West Bank land was then divided into three areas: areas A, B, and C (see Fig. 1). Area A covers 17 % of the West Bank land and comprises the Palestinian towns and some rural areas which are away from the Israeli population centers in the north (between Jenin, Nablus, Tubas, and Tulkarm), the south (around Hebron), and one in the southern center of Salfit. Area B covers 24 % of the West Bank land including other populated rural areas, many of which are closer to the center of the West Bank. Area C covers the remaining 59 % of the West Bank and contained all the Israeli settlements, roads used to access the settlements, buffer zones (near settlements, roads, strategic areas), and almost all of the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2009). Areas A and B are divided into 227 separate areas: 199 of these are smaller than 2 km2. Areas A and B are separated from one another by Israeli-controlled area C (Fischbach 2009). While the vast majority of the Palestinian people are living in areas A and B, the vacant land is available for construction and development in dozens of villages and towns across the West Bank. Such vacant land is situated on the margins of the communities defined as area C (B'Tselem 2002). Consequently, area C is the area that can be developed for the construction of sanitary landfills.

Areas A, B, and C cross the 11 Governorates used as administrative divisions by the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority has full civil control in area A, while area B is characterized by joint administration between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and area C is under full Israeli control. Israel maintains overall control over Israeli settlements, roads, water, airspace, external security, and the borders of the entire territory. An assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2007 found that approximately 40 % of the West Bank land was occupied by the Israeli infrastructure, which was comprised of settlements, the apartheid wall, military bases, and closed military areas. In addition, Israel declared nature reserves and the roads that accompany them to be off-limits or under Israeli control for Palestinians (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2009). These conditions can explain the reason why the fairness in selecting landfill sites was chosen by the people (sample population) as a very important social factor.

About 70 % of the sample population responded that other social factors (i.e., the land value surrounding landfill site, land use surrounding landfill site, approval of surrounding citizens, strict implementation of landfill selection, and the general appearance of landfill) are also very important. “Traffic congestion,” “effect on land value near landfill site,” “media,” and “allocating part of landfill income to surrounding localities” are ranked 12th, 13th, 14th, and 17th, respectively (Table 6). As is shown in Table 5, traffic congestion was considered very important by 65.5 % of the sample population, slightly important by18.9 %, and not important by15.5 %.

It has become evident that the SWM programs that ignored social aspects are doomed to fail. In a SWM decision-making process, the aspects that concern public acceptance, public participation, consumer behavior and changing land value, are not less important than the technical or economic aspects (Joos et al. 1999).

Economic factors

For the selection of landfill sites, the economic factors are ranked third in importance following the environmental and social factors (Table 5). This differs from the site selection criteria both in Kuwait and the USA, where the economic considerations in Kuwait scored as the most important factor (33 % relative importance) in the selection of landfill sites by the survey participants (Al-Yaqout et al. 2002), while the site selection criteria in the USA ranks the economic (cost) consideration last (with only 15 % priority weight) compared with other considerations (McBean et al. 1995). The rankings of the economic factors are “creation of new job opportunities” (15th), “operation and maintenance costs” (16th), “landfill construction cost” (18th), “solid waste transportation cost” (19th), and “landfill closing cost” (21st). These low rankings are probably due to the fact that such factors as “creation of new job opportunities,” “decrease in costs of landfill construction,” “operation and maintenance,” and “decrease in transportation and closing costs” would eventually increase the service charges for which the residents have to defray.

Political factors

The political considerations are shown to be least important among the landfill site selection factors (Fig. 2). “Presence of nearby checkpoints,” “presence of nearby settlements,” and “close to separation wall” are considered very important by 43.6, 31.4, and 30.9 % of the sample population, respectively (Table 5), and ranked 20th, 22nd, and 23rd, respectively (Table 6). It is noteworthy that, in area C, (i) most of the political factors are ranked lower than the environmental, social, and economic factors; (ii) settlements and checkpoints are located and strict security regulations are imposed; and (iii) very few sanitary landfills have been developed. It is the authors’ opinion that the residents in area C would not have the full understanding of the importance of the political constraints that are affecting landfill site selections and that they do not perceive indirect landfill impacts resulting from the restrictions imposed on the transportation of solid waste to the landfill sites located in area C. These authors are concerned that the residents chose the direct visual impacts of landfill sites as more important than the indirect hidden political impacts.

In recent years, numerous open dumps have spread throughout the West Bank. After the restrictions posed by Israel on access to established sanitary landfill sites, at least 450 new illegal dumpsites have been created, even though the municipalities took steps to remediate the pre-existing dumping areas. Due to the restrictive measures (e.g., road closures, checkpoints) enforced by Israel, the central public institutions that are to coordinate and manage solid waste have become inactive and incapable of applying effective methods for site selection and developing sanitary landfills that meet the environmental and socioeconomic criteria. This inactivity is largely stemmed from insufficient and inappropriate site selection criteria. For example, public opinions have been overlooked. The existing solid waste disposal sites were randomly selected with no specific guidelines or criteria. Besides, the limited financial and technical resources, difficulties that hinder effective landfill siting include government organizational barriers, overlapping responsibilities, inadequate coordination between the responsible government agencies, top-down approaches, nearsighted noble ambitious regulations, and generality and ambiguity of legal documents (Cuong 2003).

In the West Bank and Gaza, the Ministry of the local government (municipalities and local councils) is the main agency that coordinates the SWM programs, and the Environmental Quality Authority (EQA) is responsible for approving licenses to develop and operate landfills. The EQA monitors landfills to ensure environmental safety and protection. The many aspects of SWM including availability of solid waste collection and disposal services to the public are relatively new to the West Bank residents. The residents depend mainly on their municipality councils for SWM planning and execution, including collection, transportation, and disposal of solid waste: the Ministry of the local government assumes a full right to select landfill sites without public consent (Al-Khatib et al. 2007). This practice, however, is now changing due to central government putting political pressure to minimize environmental impacts resulting from uncontrolled solid waste dumps on the local municipalities.

Sanitary landfills ought to be environmentally friendly, economically feasible, and socially acceptable. In the Palestinian context, selection of landfill sites based on environmental, economic and social criteria is difficult, but it is the most important challenge to develop sanitary landfills. In addition to the environmental and socioeconomic criteria, the political criterion is one of the main aspects that are impeding the improvement of the SWM practices. Concerning political policies on SWM, not only the Palestinian territory but also other developing countries are lagging behind the developed nations. Inadequate SWM policies and practices including thoughtless selection of landfill sites are most likely associated with rapid population growth and political circumstances. The restrictions imposed on the Palestinian land use and urban land use expansion after the Israeli occupation have influenced the priorities of the local governments and adversely affected public health and the environment.

Conclusions

Selection of a suitable site for new landfills according to social, environmental, economic, and technical issues is one of the most challenging issues in developing countries, including Palestine. Shortage of land for waste disposal is a serious and growing potential problem in Palestine due to the current unstable political situation and the Israeli occupation, in addition to the responsibility of the Palestinian themselves and their authority to search for best alternatives and solutions for the increasing solid waste problems. This study is of great importance for developing countries and mainly for those that have similar conditions like Palestine. However, limited studies have been reported in the literature that incorporate public concerns about and perceptions of solid waste dump sites and selection of sanitary landfill sites. This survey provided Palestinian people as well as other similar countries with an opportunity to express their concerns about solid waste dumps and a forum to express their opinions on the selection of sanitary landfills. The main findings of this study are as follows:

  • A high percentage (∼90 %) of the participants is aware of the environmental problems and health risks associated with solid waste dumpsites: the main concerns include aesthetics, dust, smoke, foul odors, insects, rodents, and stray dogs and other animals.

  • Of the sample population, 41.6 % responded that they are suffering from dumpsite problems: the result suggests that the minimization of pollutant emissions and of exposure to other nuisances should be high priorities of the SWM program.

  • Environmental factors are considered most important for the selection of sanitary landfill sites.

  • Among the environmental factors, air pollution is considered most important and noise was chosen to be of least concern: the result indicates that there is a lack of awareness of adverse human health effects and occupational hazards by noise.

  • Landfill scavenging was chosen to be the least important factor in determining landfill sites: the result revealed that waste picking activities at landfills are not viewed as a cause of serious health hazard.

  • “Fairness in selecting landfill sites” was chosen as one of the most important social factors, probably as a reaction to the Israeli occupation and subsequent land use restrictions in the West Bank: the result suggests that it is important to take all the SWM factors into consideration in selecting landfill sites.

  • It appears that demographic and socioeconomic factors (i.e., resident’s district, age, scientific knowledge level, and profession) affect his/her awareness of dumpsite problems.

This study has revealed that a considerable effort is needed in incorporating public participation into a landfill siting process and developing strict regulations on SWM. The regulations must address community concerns and require public involvement such as public hearings on the proposed site. In the decision-making process, effective public involvement opportunities should be created, including townhall meetings and media relations to gather and exchange public opinions concerning proposed landfill sites.

It is hoped that the findings from this study will shed light on the needs of increasing public awareness of environmental impact and human health risks, which could be caused by open dumps. Also, this study should help decision (policy) makers recognize importance of the environmental, socioeconomic, and political factors in selecting proper sanitary landfill sites. It is also hoped that all the aforementioned factors will be seriously considered by the Palestinian Authority for the best interest of the Palestinian people and that the findings will be useful to the decision (policy) makers of not only the Palestinian territory but also other developing countries. In the Palestinian territories, studies on groundwater pollution due to deep percolation of leachate are very few and lack proper correlation with surrounding environmental resources (i.e., geology, topography, climate); hence, more studies in this regard are essential to figure out sources of pollution and resources affected by such pollution is necessary (Al-Khatib et al. 2015). Consequently, it is hoped that special focus will be put on landfill leachate and associated heavy and harmful trace elements, which result from unsanitary and random dumping sites.