Location allocation of recycling site of solid waste in the city of Karaj using GIS assisted Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Logic

Solid waste management in addition to its role on the economic cycle, is considered as one of the most important indicators of development in developing countries. Recycling is one of the sustainable solutions in solid waste management. However, recycling has environmental and economic benefits, unfortunately, no coherent and integrated work has been done in our country. Finding the best location for waste recycling is very important for the proper implementation of operations. The aim of this study is to provide a framework for decision making techniques of Delphi, Delphi fuzzy and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) using geographic information systems (GIS), to identify potential sites for establishing waste recycling station in Karaj, Iran. Thus, after identifying criteria using classical Delphi technique, the standard boundaries of each criterion was calculated using fuzzy Delphi technique. This study led to identification of 13 effective criteria in locating recycling station and also determining the allowable boundaries. Seven areas were identified as prone recycling stations using GIS and AHP. Finally, three of the seven regions having the highest scores were selected as the optimal locations of recycling stations.