Assessing sustainable municipal solid waste management factors for Johor-Bahru by analytical hierarchy process

Abstract

Management of solid waste involves collection, transportation, treatment and safe disposal to landfills. These activities create a lot of impacts to the environment and most of the time impose social and financial burden on authorities handling solid waste management as well as the community. Local authorities managing waste are confronted with problems, protests and resistance from the public because of difference of views and perceptions on impacts created by waste management plans. This paper assesses some environmental, social and economical impacts viewed by stakeholders in the city of Johor Bahru Malaysia. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision making analysis tool is used to evaluate the views of the stakeholders with the aid of super decision software. Stream ecology, flora and fauna, habitat depletion, land use and air quality are ranked higher for environmental factors/impacts. Public awareness health and safety, population size and cooperation from the public dominate the social factors. Regulation, landfill capacity, operation and maintenance cost and capital cost dominate economic factors/impacts. Four alternative disposal plans (landfilling, recycling, incineration, composting) were proposed and ranked according to the priorities of the stakeholders. Incineration and recycling were preferred to landfilling and composting disposal options.