Efficient approach for improving municipal solid waste management in Oman: towards sustainable development

Sultanate of Oman faces the problem of rapid growth in waste generation, and other than limited recycling there are no waste treatment facilities. This situation demands for an optimum waste management plan to divert waste from landfills and to reduce the environmental impacts. In this study, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was utilised to incorporate the priorities of several criteria and four waste management scenarios into the hierarchy structure based on the preferences of experts and stakeholders. This study concludes that the economic and environmental criteria rank the highest when deciding on the best waste management plan for Oman. The results show that scenario 2, which integrates incineration with the current practice of landfilling, is the optimal approach for the situation of Oman. Scenarios 2 and 3 that involved source separation of waste along with anaerobic digestion and recycling respectively, ranked in the middle; while the status quo presented in scenario 1 performed worst.