Statistical analysis of effective variables on the performance of waste storage service using geographical information system and response surface methodology

Abstract

Waste storage service (WSS) of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) systems is a functional element that residents encounter system directly, so related authorities should consider a trade-off between social consideration and system performance at this stage. Not only should they pay attention to the efficiency and effectiveness of the MSWM system, but also take account of social welfare resulting in public engagement. This study introduces three important factors including number of waste stations, maximum allowed walking distance and container capacity devoted to each station having effect on the performance of waste storage service. To investigate how these variables affect the performance of WSS, geographical information system (GIS) and response surface methodology (RSM) were applied. First, according to these three variables, fifteen experiments were designed by Box Behnken Design (BBD), then, all the experiments were modeled by maximized capacitated coverage (MCC) in GIS environment, and the parameters evaluating the performance of WSS were measured. The final response was achieved through integration of effective parameters by two different MADM methods, TOPSIS and OWA. The results showed negative effects of the number of stations and container capacity of each station on the final response, whereas increase in the maximum allowed walking distance improved the performance of WSS.