Selection of the best management method for construction and demolition waste disposal in Tehran with the view of sustainable development based on analytical hierarchy process (AHP)

Environmental pollution due to dumping construction and demolition wastes has adverse effects on public health. This study aimed to select the best method for managing construction and demolition wastes disposal in Tehran by AHP.
This research was a descriptive study. The study population consisted of environmental health experts in the field of construction waste management. Initially, criteria and alternatives for construction waste management, recycling and reuse and landfilling were identified and classified. Using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), different outcomes were compared based on scoring by Expert Choice 11 software.
The results of this study showed that the discharge percentage in the permanent landfills was 68%, in temporary pits was 9% and in recovery centers was 23% in the last 6 years. The final priority of criteria with respect to the economical criterion was reuse (0.492), recycling (0.274) and landfilling (0.235), respectively. Also, according to the environmental criterion, the scores for reuse, recycling and landfilling were 0.492, 0.373 and 0.198 respectively. Based on social criterion the calculated scores were 0.5, 0.279 and 0.222 for landfilling, recycling and reuse, respectively.
In this study, the reuse option with the weight of 0.439 was the best disposal option; and the recycling option with the weight of 0.312 was the second priority. Landfilling showed the lowest score with the weight of 0.250.