Location of the waste incineration plant with particular emphasis on the environmental criteria

The paper presents a methodology for the analysis of impact exerted by waste management systems on the environment, basing on the definition of environmental quality index. The index is determined by analyzing the distribution of pollutant concentrations in ambient air in effect of waste processing or waste disposal technological processes carried out in the integrated waste management systems in the area under consideration. The proposed methodology for determining the environmental quality index allows to compare different location variants for the same technology in terms of its impact on the natural environment. The result of the calculations is a matrix that allows to determine the quantitative and objective environmental assessment of the location variant. The correctness and usefulness of the model used was confirmed by a calculation example. The model is an environmental management tool that can be used for any installation. The value of the indicator is a matrix in which the size (number of components) is a function of the number of pollutants, the number of points with exceedances, incident points with the sub-areas (thematic layers) of the thematic map and the adopted values of conventional weights (depending on the size and time of deposition of a given pollutant). Comparing the matrix values, e.g. for NO_x emissions for individual locations (between 1.099.98–57.901.82), indicates the measurable value of the most advantageous location.