Industrial solid waste management through the application of multi-criteria decision-making analysis: a case study of Shamsabad industrial complexes

Abstract

Industrial towns, as major bases of small and medium production centers, have played a major role in the industrial development of several countries. These towns have paved a way for the prosperity of economic plans and have been able to meet up with the production perspectives of investors, thereby providing the necessary fundamental services. In this regard, paying attention to proper management of waste production is quite important both in the preservation of the environment from industrial pollution and reduction of probable risks threatening the employees of industrial units located in the towns. Therefore, the present research determined the stream of the industrial waste production in Shamsabad Industrial Town, by designing four appropriate disposal scenarios according to the quality of the produced wastes, and assesses them technically, economically and environmentally using two methods of analysis: analytic hierarchical process and analytic network process. The fourth scenario, which consisted of landfilling, incineration and recycling, was ultimately selected as the best disposal scenario. Indeed, the main objective of current paper is to develop a model which could be implemented in other industrial towns, to proper management of generated wastes.