Towards more equity concerning quality of Urban Waste Management services in the context of cities

An innovative combined evaluation approach is proposed in the present paper to deal with the issue ofthe performance measurement and comparison of Urban Waste Management (UWM) services in thecontext of cities. The ELECTRE III method is initially considered as tool able to execute a multi-criteriaanalysis aimed at ranking UWM systems based on their integration and sustainability levels. Thelatter are comprehensively evaluated via the recently developed “Wasteaware” Integrated and SustainabilityWaste Management indicators framework, which takes into account physical components andgovernance aspects of UWM systems. Then, on the basis on ELECTRE III results, a practical gaps investigationis developed to comparatively highlight service weaknesses to be addressed to pursue moreequity concerning integration and sustainability in the considered context. The issue is particularlyrelevant in light of the multi-dimensional nature and the substantial complexity of UWM systems, aswell as for the high criticality level assumed by these systems in recent years. The proposed combinedevaluation approach is applied to an empirical case which regards the UWM systems of the OptimalTerritorial Ambit of Palermo (Sicily). In the considered context, results highlight how stakeholders'participation in decision-making activities represents a crucial factor to pursue shared and coordinatedstrategies in line with integration and sustainability principles. Moreover, seventeen measures involvingoperational, environmental, socio-economic as well as administrative waste management aspects areselected from a comprehensive list of measures aimed at waste management integration and sustainability,and then implemented in the investigated context. Through these measures, the resulting servicescriticalities can be evaluated and properly addressed, and new required processes can be designed.