Evaluating and prioritizing municipal solid waste management-related factors in Romania using fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS

Issue title: Special section: Intelligent data analysis and applications & smart vehicular technology, communications and applications

Guest editors: Valentina Emilia Balas and Lakhmi C. Jain

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Tamasila, Matei^a | Prostean, Gabriela^a | Ivascu, Larisa^{a; c; *} | Cioca, Lucian-Ionel^{b; c} | Draghici, Anca^a | Diaconescu, Andra^a

Affiliations: [a] Management Department, Politehnica University of Timisoara, Timisoara, Romania | [b] Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Sibiu, Romania | [c] Academy of Romanian Scientists, Bucharest, Romania

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Larisa Ivascu, E-mail: larisa.ivascu@upt.ro.

Abstract: The present study aims at identifying the main drivers underlying the development of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) so as to ensure an effective enhancement of the current waste management system and significantly improved recycling rates. Based on the factors identified in the qualitative evaluation of the deployed statistics and using fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), these factors are hierarchized and the competitive strategic alternative is selected/customized. The judgment of eight experts from the eight major regions of Romania has been used in the applied fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS methodologies. The robustness of the results is analyzed against the sensitivity analysis. Following the sensitivity analysis, the alternatives retained their rank so that the eight experts’ assessments have been validated. By developing a sustainable MSWM, it is claimed that the recycling rate in Romania will increase.

Keywords: Municipal solid waste management (MSWM), selective collection, recycle, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

DOI: 10.3233/JIFS-179695

Journal: Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 6111-6127, 2020