Title: An improved AHP approach to select appropriate location sites for infectious medical waste disposal companies

Authors: Hela Moalla Frikha; Ahmed Frikha

Addresses: OLID Research Laboratory, Higher Institute of Industrial Management of Sfax, University of Sfax, Road of Tunis Km 10.5, Technopole of Sfax, BP 1164, Sfax 3021, Tunisia ' OLID Research Laboratory, Higher Institute of Industrial Management of Sfax, University of Sfax, Road of Tunis Km 10.5, Technopole of Sfax, BP 1164, Sfax 3021, Tunisia

Abstract: Nowadays, infectious healthcare waste management has become a challenging task for the municipal authorities especially in developing countries including Tunisia, which considers this concern as one of the environmental priorities. Since these wastes have resistant impacts on public health and the deleterious effects on the environment, government authorities have deployed efforts to improve healthcare waste management. Locating infectious healthcare disposal firms is a sophisticated multi-criteria decision-making problem, which requires a compromise solution chosen according to conflicting criteria. This paper addresses the use of a modified analytic hierarchy process approach to select objectively the best sites for installing infectious healthcare waste disposal firms in Tunisia. A number of criteria and their sub-criteria are considered, several locations are evaluated, and the most appropriate ones are selected. Moreover, using expert choice software, sensitivity analysis is performed to show how sensitive the results are to the removal of one or more criteria. [Submitted: 21 January 2021; Accepted: 27 June 2021]

Keywords: decision analysis; multiple criteria decision aid; waste disposal firm; infectious healthcare waste management; location problem; analytic hierarchy process.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIE.2022.125300

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2022 Vol.16 No.5, pp.618 - 649

Received: 21 Jan 2021
Accepted: 27 Jun 2021
Published online: 06 Sep 2022 *

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