Multi Criteria Decision Making for Sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems

Abstract

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a conspicuous issue in sustainable development considering its association with all three domains of sustainability i.e. economy, society, and environment. Various operations research techniques have been used to provide a robust decision support system for a cost-effective, environment friendly and socially convenient MSW management in urban centers across the globe. This chapter discusses the holistic view of one such technique i.e. multi criteria decision-making (MCDM). MCDM models are used to solve two different kind of problems i.e. (i) evaluation of discrete decision alternatives based on identified attributes, known as multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problems; and (ii) optimization of a multi objective function in a continuous decision space, known as multi-objective decision making (MODM) problems. The formulation and applications of MADM and MODM models are demonstrated using two real case studies. First case study exhibits the use of a MADM model to select appropriate combination of locations for MSW facilities with simultaneous consideration of all relevant economical, social, technical and environmental attributes. The proposed two-stage MADM model expands the conventional approaches to select best locations for MSW facilities based on only economical cost minimization, and includes all relevant attributes to make it a comprehensive model. Attribution identification and economic evaluation are performed in the first stage assessment. Shortlisted alternatives are then evaluated for all identified economical, social, technical and environmental attributes using Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) in the second stage assessment. The model is demonstrated on the city of Nashik (India). The model select best combination of locations with an optimum economical cost, good suitability for societal and technical attributes, and minimal environmental emissions. Second case study maximizes the social acceptance of MSW management system in the Hoi An city (Vietnam) using a MODM model. The proposed model provides an essential framework with the scientific consensus among all level of stakeholders. Minimizing the economical cost of entire system, pollution emission from MSW facilities, and amount of MSW ending up in landfills are selected as primary objectives. Both of these case studies reflect the potential of MCDM models to establish a sustainable MSW management system in the urban centers across the globe.