APPLICATION OF MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING TOOLS FOR TECHNOLOGY CHOICE IN TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE FOR LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT BODIES-A CASE STUDY OF KERALA, INDIA

摘要

Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) has become an issue of increasing importance around the world with far reaching implications. In India, one of the major reasons for failure in MSWM is identified as lack of financial, infrastructural and manpower resources in Local Self Government Bodies (LSGBs). This results in attempts for adhoc solutions including improper selection of technology. Also, local conditions of sustainability remain unaddressed in technology choice. There is a need to assist the LSGBs in decision making considering these factors. The current study proposes the use of the Multi Criteria Decision Making Tool (MCDM) of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) to be applied in two stages. This tool helps to address the dual challenge of considering the sustainability criteria of varying importance, as well as constraints in skills and expertise existing at each locality. The first stage evaluation is carried out separately for each of the sustainability criteria for the wider governance region where expertise and resource support are available. The second stage, at local levels, can make use of the first stage evaluation to arrive at an appropriate decision depending on the local conditions. A case study of the state of Kerala, India has been used to develop and demonstrate the proposed model. A clear preference for decentralised technology options emerges from the study, for the city of Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala. This stands in contrast to the centralised model of composting and landfill which was implemented and has failed in the city.