Assessment of sustainable development through a multi-criteria approach: Application in brazilian municipalities.

In the last decades, there has been an increase in impacts on the environment, driven by the industrialization process. As a result, society's social and environmental awareness increased, and business organizations began to promote corporate social responsibility initiatives to positively contribute to better working and environmental conditions, and other sustainability issues. This article aims to verify the performance of 217 Brazilian municipalities from 31 indicators segmented in the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social), selected from the literature review, to contribute to the sustainable investment strategy of organizations. To this end, we used the multi-criteria decision making method, Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), and proposed an analytical sustainability dashboard. The main results of this paper were the sustainable performance rankings of the municipalities and the dashboard with three analytical panels that contributed to identifying the points of improvement of each municipality, consequently contributing to the investment strategy in these locations. This research consists, therefore, of an important methodology, combining the multi-criteria method and the sustainability dashboard, to assess the sustainable development of the municipalities in the triple bottom line dimensions.

Improving urban household solid waste management in developing countries based on the German experience.

Countries worldwide strive to improve their urban household solid waste management (UHSWM) practices. While developed countries like Germany have achieved good results with different UHSWM initiatives, developing countries still struggle to be effective with their waste management (WM) policies. With an interest in learning from the German experience, this paper provides a cross-case analysis between a German and a Brazilian city that can be of practical relevance to improving UHSWM in developing countries. The paper uses "process flow diagram" (PFD) and "wasteaware benchmark indicators" for integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM). Both methods confirmed the German city as a benchmark and attested the inefficiency of the Brazilian UHSWM. The total maximum score weightage percentage of the matrix quantification difference was significant, 98% against 50%. Findings highlight viable solutions based on the three pillars of the German solid WM system: clear laws, regular public campaigns, and fee methodology. The formalization and improvement of Brazilian UHSWM require better governance to obtain additional investments. Herein, the application of the Green Dot methodology, sponsored by industry and consumers in Germany, would enable an increase of up to 318% of the values received by a typical Brazilian cooperative. This additional investment can empower a sustainable solution where the population could opt to work with recycling, either as a formal employee or as a formal entrepreneur, shedding more light on the social pillar of the triple bottom line. Moreover, it can enable improvements in technologies, and on regular public campaigns to increase education in important sustainable matters.