Decision support models for solid waste management: Review and game-theoretic approaches

This paper surveys decision support models that are commonly used in the solid waste management area. Most models are mainly developed within three decision support frameworks, which are the life-cycle assessment, the cost–benefit analysis and the multi-criteria decision-making. These frameworks are reviewed and their strengths and weaknesses as well as their critical issues are analyzed, while their possible combinations and extensions are also discussed. Furthermore, the paper presents how cooperative and non-cooperative game-theoretic approaches can be used for the purpose of modeling and analyzing decision-making in situations with multiple stakeholders. Specifically, since a waste management model is sustainable when considering not only environmental and economic but also social aspects, the waste management bargaining game is introduced as a specific decision support framework in which future models can be developed.

► The mainly used decision support frameworks for solid waste management are reviewed.
► The LCA, CBA and MCDM models are presented and their strengths, weaknesses, similarities and possible combinations are analyzed.
► The game-theoretic approach in a solid waste management context is presented.
► The waste management bargaining game is introduced as a specific decision support framework.
► Cooperative and non-cooperative game-theoretic approaches to decision support for solid waste management are discussed.