A Multi-criteria Based Analysis for Prioritization of Solid Waste Treatment Methods for Rural Areas

Abstract

AbstractThe problem of municipal solid waste treatment and disposal is increasing day by day in rural areas due to the surging levels of solid waste which is attributed to the population increase, growing consumerism, changing lifestyles, etc. Due to the rising health and environmental concerns, there is a need to treat this municipal solid waste in a responsible manner. A large number of solid waste treatment options are available for decision-makers to choose from however the selection of an appropriate solid waste treatment method for a particular area is a challenging task as it requires trade-off between a pool of economic, environmental, social, and technical criteria. In recent decades, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) has emerged as a convenient tool to address such challenging decision-making problems. This paper highlights the application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision-making technique, in the selection of the most suitable solid waste treatment method in the context of rural areas. Three alternatives viz. Anaerobic Digestion, Vermicomposting, and Windrow Composting are evaluated against 10 criteria to obtain the priorities of the alternatives. In AHP, the final priorities of alternatives can be synthesized in two different modes: Distributive mode and Ideal mode. In this paper also, both the modes have been used and their results are compared. In both the modes, Anaerobic Digestion emerged as the most appropriate solid waste treatment method for the selected study area. To check the robustness of the results obtained, a sensitivity analysis has also been performed by adopting a scenario-based approach.KeywordsRural areasSolid waste treatmentAnalytic hierarchy processSensitivity analysis