A novel sustainable decision making model for municipal solid waste management

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Operations Research
• Public Policy

Background:

• Existing municipal solid waste management (MSWM) models often lack effective integration of social factors and public participation.
• Current decision-making methods in MSWM struggle to reconcile diverse stakeholder values, leading to implementation challenges.
• Limited research addresses genuine public participation in MSWM decision-making, focusing more on criteria compromise than stakeholder consensus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, sustainable decision-making model for municipal solid waste management (MSWM).
• To address the shortcomings of existing models by incorporating stakeholder consensus into the decision-making process.
• To enhance the feasibility of implementing MSWM decisions by managing stakeholder conflicts.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing MSWM decision-making models, categorizing them by their approach to social factors and public participation.
• Development of a combined multicriteria decision making (MCDM) and consensus analysis model (CAM).
• Utilizing CAM to assess the degree of consensus among stakeholders for specific MSWM alternatives.

Main Results:

• The proposed model effectively integrates MCDM with CAM to facilitate consensus-driven decision-making.
• The Consensus Analysis Model (CAM) provides a quantitative measure of agreement among stakeholders.
• A case study on food waste management in Taiwan demonstrates the model's practical application and effectiveness.

Conclusions:

• The integrated MCDM-CAM model offers a more sustainable and practical approach to MSWM decision-making.
• Effective stakeholder consensus is crucial for the successful implementation of MSWM strategies.
• The model provides a valuable tool for navigating complex value systems and conflicts in MSWM planning.