Development of a framework for selecting a sustainable location of waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling plant in emerging economies

Benefits of recycling will be mitigated if the recycling plant location is not aligned with the sustainability principles. The present study aims to build a guiding framework for managers and policymakers in selecting a sustainable location for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling plant. It uses a case study approach and a three-phase novel methodology which includes Best-Worst Method (BWM) to rank the criteria for a sustainable plant location and VIsekriterijumska optimisacija i KOm-promisno Resenje (VIKOR) to rank the recycling candidate locations present in the case. The results indicate that environmental and natural criteria like, distance from the residential areas and water bodies, and biodiversity conservation are the most significant considerations for a sustainable plant location. Policy and legal criteria like, support from local authorities and financial support, ranked as the second while, economical aspects like, proximity to the waste collection point, and slope ranked as the third best criteria for decision on a sustainable recycling plant location. The study established the consistency and robustness of the results by performing two sets of sensitivity analysis. One by changing the weight specified for the main criteria and the other, by modifying the weight specified for a specific expert. The study will facilitate WEEE recycling companies in their decision making for facility location and also, the policy makers in increasing the effectiveness of the national WEEE management policy, by providing insights on the sustainability factors for recycling plant locations around which incentives can be built and disclosure regulations be designed. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.