The Role of Environmental Factors in the Investment Prioritization of Facilities Using Recycled PVC

Abstract

There are many types of solid wastes however, plastic wastes are among the ones which have several harmful effects on the environment. Plastic wastes have a long decomposition time in nature and the dangerous chemical compounds in them make them a threat for the environment along with other types of waste. Contamination caused by the plastic wastes attracts worldwide attention nowadays. As a member of thermoplastic polymers family, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products are one of the most preferred type of plastic composition, which holds an important ratio in the total plastic waste amount. PVC wastes should either be disposed or recycled to minimize their harmful effects on the environment. The disposal approach is easy and cheap, but recycling alternative requires the investment on special facilities hence, a more expensive solution. However, disposal alternatives, such as landfilling and incineration, may also cause pollution due to high chlorine content of PVC; whereas, mechanical and chemical recycling options reduce many environmental problems. There is a clear tradeoff in the decision of handling PVC waste between the costs and environmental effects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors considered during the investment decisions of PVC manufacturers to find out the importance of environmental factors by using a multi-criteria group decision making method.