A sustainable medical waste management system design in the face of uncertainty and risk during COVID-19

Naeme Zarrinpoor ()
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Naeme Zarrinpoor: Shiraz University of Technology

Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making, 2023, vol. 22, issue 3, No 7, 519-554

Abstract: Abstract COVID-19's developing trend has put the waste management systems of governments all over the world in jeopardy. The increasing rise of infectious medical waste has now become a serious problem. This paper presents a multi-period multi-objective model for designing a medical waste management system during the COVID-19 pandemic. The model aims to reduce total costs of infectious medical waste management while also reducing the environmental impact of treatment centers, disposal centers, and transportation. It also aims to maximize the suitability of treatment technology based on social considerations and reduce the risk associated with processing and transporting COVID-19 waste. Different strategic and operational decisions are taken into account that include the selection of treatment technologies, the location of treatment and disposal centers, the flow of generated medical waste between facilities, and the number of vehicles required for the medical waste transport. The model tackles the uncertainty associated with model parameters, and it uses a credibility-based possibilistic programming method to deal with uncertainties. The suggested model is solved using an interactive fuzzy programming method and the importance of social indicators for selecting treatment technology is determined using the fuzzy best–worst approach. The effectiveness of the model is demonstrated by a practical case study in Shiraz, Iran. The numerical results can help system designers to achieve the most suitable trade-off between the sustainability goals and the safety viewpoint.

Keywords: COVID-19; Medical waste management; Sustainability; Risk; Uncertainty; Possibilistic programming; Fuzzy best–worst method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10700-022-09401-3

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