Municipal solid waste management: Identification and analysis of technology selection criteria using Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy DEMATEL technique

Mehedi Hasan Shanta; Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhury; Sheak Salman

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23236

Municipal solid waste management: Identification and analysis of technology selection criteria using Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy DEMATEL technique

Heliyon. 2023 Dec 5;10(1):e23236. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e23236. eCollection 2024 Jan 15.

Authors

Mehedi Hasan Shanta¹, Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhury¹, Sheak Salman¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Dhaka, 1208, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Municipal solid waste management (MSWM) poses a considerable challenge to developing countries like Bangladesh because of the rising waste generation rates and lack of effective management practices such as illegal open dumping and informal waste collection. One of the crucial factors in the successful management of MSW is to select the appropriate technology which is a complex multi-criteria and laborious process. Despite the global emphasis on the importance of MSWM in the literature, there is a lack of studies conducted in developing countries that effectively identify and analyze the critical performance criteria for appropriate technology selection. This research aims to address this shortcoming by identifying, and prioritizing the selection criteria and finally investigating the inter-relationship between them and the degree to which they affect or are affected by one another. First, a thorough literature review and expert consultation were employed to determine a set of 21 key criteria using the Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). Later, taking into account the imprecise and subjective nature of the DEMATEL method on human judgements, the Fuzzy DEMATEL technique was employed to investigate the cause-effect relationships among the identified criteria. The findings of the study demonstrated that 14 criteria were categorized as causal elements that have the most significant influence on the MSWM technology selection process and 7 criteria were categorized as effect. The selection of MSWM technology demands greater consideration of the top three ranked criteria, namely T_4- Access to Technology (AT), T_8- Feasibility (F), and the Ec₆-Infrastructure requirements (IR). By identifying the pertinent criteria, structures and interrelationships, the outcome of the study can facilitate a better understanding of causal relationships among the criteria that require specific consideration from the decision-makers and allow them to select appropriate MSW management technology.

Keywords: Developing countries; Fuzzy DEMATEL; Fuzzy Delphi method; Fuzzy set theory; Multi criteria decision making (MCDM); Municipal solid waste management (MSWM); Technology selection.