A decision support framework for safe and sustainable by-design practices promoting circularity in waste-to-energy supply chains

Advancing a safe and sustainable waste-to-energy supply chain is predominant for achieving a circular business model. However, establishing such a supply chain requires addressing its inherent complexities and developing mitigation strategies for implementing safe and sustainable by-design practices. While earlier research has mainly focused on sustainable chemicals and materials for promoting sustainable by-design practices, the sustainable waste-to-energy supply chain has been largely overlooked. This study systematically evaluates challenges considering associated uncertain future events and examines mitigation strategies for the practical implementation of safe and sustainable by-design practices. To achieve this, a novel decision support framework is developed, integrating a trapezoidal fuzzy-based stratified best-worst method, quality function deployment, and a mixed-integer linear programming model. Data is collected from domain experts to the framework's applicability.