Multi-criteria Analysis of Municipal Solid Wastes Treatment Scenarios: The Case of Arusha City, Tanzania

Abstract

Selection of the most effective municipal solid waste (MSW) treatment option is crucial for sustainable MSW management, but it remains a challenge in most cities of developing countries. More often, the decision-makers make the selection of the treatment options without economic (ECs), and environmental (ENCs) cost evaluations. Consequently, the selected technologies fail to suit the local conditions of the concerned areas and they become a high burden activity to manage. Therefore, this study aimed to use the multi-criteria analysis approach based on the ELECTRE method to analyse the most effective MSW treatment option in terms of ECs and ENCs costs in Arusha City Tanzania. A study involved the design of 54 treatment scenarios and identified six initial acceptable scenarios for ELECTRE analysis. The ELECTRE analysis results indicated that the scenario which suggests the use of composting options for organic wastes, recycling options for glass, metals, paper and plastic wastes and the use of a landfill for other wastes emerged as the dominant scenario. This scenario had the daily ECs of US$11,178 while avoiding about 124 tons of CO₂ emissions daily. A sensitivity analysis results with different criteria weights also indicated the selected scenario outranked other alternatives. The findings from this study can be applied by the decision-makers to improve MSW management in study areas and cities with similar MSW conditions.