Ranking municipal solid waste treatment alternatives considering sustainability criteria using the analytical hierarchical process tool

•Ranking municipal waste treatment options in terms of sustainability.•Combination of environmental, economic and social criteria.•Use of AHP method to rank the sustainability performance.

The establishment of an integrated rational waste management system is a complex issue, which has to be clearly investigated and a widespread variety of environmental, social and economic criteria should be taken into consideration. Each different waste treatment alternative provides a specific environmental, social and economic performance. Therefore, the crucial environmental, social and economic criteria need to be identified, estimated and thoroughly examined. In this manuscript, mechanical biological aerobic treatment without RDF energy recovery, mechanical biological anaerobic treatment and incineration with energy recovery are compared and finally ranked according to their environmental, social and economic performance. Analytical hierarchical process was used to rank the performance in three examined pillars in the capacity range of 70–90 kt. Incineration with energy recovery provides best performance due to the high amount of generated energy, whereas the other two options provide less capital costs. However, the performance of each treatment alternative is strongly dependent on the selection and weight of criteria.