Multicriteria analysis and GIS applied to the selection of agroindustrial waste. A case study contextualized to the Ecuadorian reality

Abstract

Multi-criteria decision-making is a tool that facilitates decision-making in complex situations, given multiple criteria to consider. This research proposes the integration of multi-criteria analysis and geographic information systems to establish evaluation criteria that guide the appropriate selection of waste of agro-industrial origin for its revaluation in Ecuador. The final objective is to select agricultural waste potentially available as raw material in the production of bioplastics. From the survey of the most frequently used methods in this field, a modified and adapted analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was adopted, with four criteria analyzed: Waste availability, industrialization, social-environmental impact, and geomorphological aspect. As initial materials, databases of 23 waste belonging to 11 items located from geographical coordinates extracted from satellite maps provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Ecuador were considered. When carrying out the weighting and respective data processing, the criterion with the greatest impact on the selection of alternatives is the social-environmental criterion, followed by the availability of the waste. To validate the method contrast a panel of experts was used. Agricultural items make up a ranking of the possibility of success according to this panel, led by bananas, followed by plantain and corn. This conclusion is concomitant with that obtained by the proposed method. The sensitivity analysis carried out indicated that the changes in the score of the industrialization criterion are the ones that most influence the results obtained in the AHP. Although the methodology used focused on the use of agroindustrial waste for the production of bioplastics, it applies to other bioproducts and even in other countries with characteristics similar to the one studied. Although AHP techniques and GIS tools are commonly used their integration as a simple and open-access tool provides local governments (mayors and municipalities) with a tool for decision-making in complex situations such as the one studied here.