Municipal solid waste management technological barriers: A hierarchical structure approach in Taiwan

The ecosystem of digital technologies in Industry 4.0 is growing continuously, new data and information sources integration rising has carried notable value in waste management transitions with various technological barriers remains. The municipal solid waste management technological attributes are illustrated by qualitative information, and it is hard to form the consistent interdependence hierarchical structure under interrelationships. This study applies the fuzzy Delphi method to obtain the valid attributes. Fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory is to envisage the interrelationships among the attributes. The analytic network process is to test the consistency among the hierarchical structures. The results provide an insight of municipal solid waste management technological barriers in Taiwan. The cyber-physical limitations, artificial intelligence application challenges, and human interface problems as cause aspects. In practices, (1) inadequate public data, (2) robotic process automation limitations, and (3) lack of predictive and emergency assistance, hinders the municipal solid waste management technological improvement.

Automated summary

In the ecosystem of digital technologies in Industry 4.0, the integration of new data and information sources has significant value in waste management transitions, but it also faces various technological barriers. This study uses the fuzzy Delphi method to obtain valid attributes and applies fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory to predict the interrelationships among these attributes. Analytic network process is used to test the consistency among the hierarchical structures. The results reveal the technological barriers in municipal solid waste management in Taiwan, including cyber-physical limitations, challenges in artificial intelligence application, and human interface problems. Insufficient public data, limitations in robotic process automation, and lack of predictive and emergency assistance hinder the improvement of municipal solid waste management technology.