Municipal solid waste management considering NGO’s role in consumer environmental awareness and government regulations for air pollution

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is twofold: first, to examine the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in increasing customer environmental awareness (CEA) to decrease the municipal solid waste (MSW), and secondly, to examine the effect of government policies in the amount of air pollution caused by transfer stations (TSs).Design/methodology/approachThis study proposes a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model. For solving this multi-objective problem, the authors use epsilon constraint method, which presented eight Pareto solutions. For selecting the best solution, the analytic hierarchy process approach is used. The presented model is applied on a real case study, and the results are discussed and sensitivity analysis is implemented on the parameters of the concern.FindingsThis study confirms the assumption that by allocating budget to NGOs for increasing CEA, the produced waste will be decreased.Research limitations/implicationsIn the present study, the authors only investigate air pollution caused by TS. Future studies can investigate other types of pollution. Furthermore, uncertainty in the amount of produced waste can be variable making the problem closer to the real environment. In this case, robust optimization may have better results.Practical implicationsBased on the results of sensitivity analysis, some implications obtain that can highlight by managers in the decision-making process. The operational costs of TS have a critical aspect in founding TS, so using new technology and high-tech machines for operational processes of TSs, can result in decreasing the running cost of TSs. Also, the determination of TS capacity is a remarkable issue in optimization, which should be paid special attention to this for the design of TSs in the planning phase of the system. Moreover, collaborating with NGOs has a good effect on increasing CEA that results in a decrease of MSW.Originality/valueThe role of NGOs and government simultaneity has been considered in a green supply chain. Moreover, the authors considered TS between source and disposal that reduce the time of transferring waste. Therefore, this study can be beneficial for the MSW management system, which faces the problems in the lack of capacity and transportation problems and environmental issues by proposing solutions in three studies including economic, environmental and social aspects.