North Vidzeme Region covers more than ten thousand square kilometers and its population is about 200 thousand.
The epicantre of waste production is Kocēni Parish in Valmiera District, situated in the southwest of Valmiera City. The diameter of the inspected area is 70 kilometers around the waste production centre. In order to minimise transportation costs and the impact on the environment caused by waste transportation the location of the new municipal waste landfill had to be as close as possible to the epicentre of waste production. North Vidzeme regional governments came up with their proposals for the location of a potential waste disposal landfill. The places were marked on the North Vidzeme map.
The following search was carried out by methodology consisting of four stages:
- Exclusion of unsatisfactory places
- Identification of potential areas
- Choice of potential areas
- Final choice of location, based on the Environmental Impact Assessment.
Places located in nature reserve zones or close to protected areas, e.g., Gauja National Park, were excluded first.
Places with inadequate geological indicators for building, e.g., high groundwater level, insufficient clay layer, etc., were also excluded. More detailed analysis and assessment was carried out for nine locations before their submission for the environmental impact assessment.