ORIGINAL RESEARCH
The Role of Environmental Factors
in the Investment Prioritization of Facilities
Using Recycled PVC
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Department of Industrial Engineering, Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey
Submission date: 2020-09-17
Final revision date: 2020-11-13
Acceptance date: 2020-11-18
Online publication date: 2021-04-06
Publication date: 2021-06-09
Corresponding author
Ugur Bac
Department of Industrial Engineering, Atilim University, 06836, Ankara, Turkey
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2021;30(4):2981-2993
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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.