Urban Development Policy Making

Urban Development Policy Making

Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Selecting the Optimal Urban Waste Management Method Using Analytic Hierarchy Process

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Asma Fayazi 1
Reza Fallah 2
Sara Mahmoodian Younesi 3
Majid Zandi 4
1 Undergraduate student, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
2 Master of Science student, Department of Energy Conversion Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
3 Phd student, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Faculty of Energy, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
4 Associate Professor, Department of Renewable Energy Engineering, Faculty of Energy, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/judpm.2025.513772.1026
Abstract
Municipal solid waste management has become one of the major challenges in modern cities due to the rapid increase in waste generation and the limitation of natural resources. Selecting an optimal waste management method requires the consideration of environmental, economic, technical, and social criteria to not only minimize negative environmental impacts but also make the best use of available resources. In this study, various waste management methods including pyrolysis, recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration, and refuse-derived fuel were evaluated and prioritized using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The evaluation criteria included investment cost, environmental pollution, resource availability, required technical expertise, social acceptance, energy consumption, and process efficiency. The weights of criteria and alternatives were determined based on expert opinions. Criteria where lower values indicate higher desirability were inverted within the software to ensure consistency in the evaluation. The results of this study indicate that sustainable and cost-effective methods such as recycling (score: 0.0982) and anaerobic digestion (score: 0.0879), due to their ability to generate valuable products, reduce pollution, and offer economic benefits, are more suitable for urban waste management compared to costly and polluting methods such as incineration and pyrolysis. Furthermore, the findings suggest that combining different methods and adopting integrated approaches can enhance the effectiveness of waste management systems and contribute to achieving sustainability goals.
Keywords
Urban waste management
Analytic Hierarchy Process
Multi-Criteria Decision Making
Recycling
Anaerobic Digestion

Subjects

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Urban Development Policy Making
Volume 2, Issue 2
Summer 2025
Pages 173-188

  • Receive Date 01 February 2025
  • Revise Date 15 March 2025
  • Accept Date 05 April 2025
  • Publish Date 10 May 2025