Extended base-criterion method based on the spherical fuzzy sets to evaluate waste management

The base-criterion method (BCM) has recently been introduced as a novel method for solving the criteria weighting problem in multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). The BCM requires fewer pairwise comparisons and leads to obtaining the fully consistent results compared to similar methods, such as the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and best worst method (BWM). The BCM requires crisp values for pairwise comparisons to obtain the criteria weights in a decision problem, while many real-world decision problems are associated with uncertain and ambiguous environments. The main aim of this paper is to extend BCM using spherical fuzzy sets (SFSs) in applications involving decision problems in ambiguous and complex environments. The SFSs are one of the latest developments in fuzzy sets and define an independent hesitance degree in addition to membership and non-membership degrees. Extending BCM using SFSs increases the preferences range of the decision-makers under uncertain conditions and consequently improves the accuracy of the obtained weights. To show the capability of the spherical fuzzy BCM (SF-BCM), a real-world decision problem was implemented to evaluate the effective criteria in the choice of a location for waste disposal in the city of Tabriz. The obtained results indicate that SF-BCM can produce more accurate results under uncertain conditions.