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The waste-to-energy (WtE) project plays a significant role in the sustainable development of urban environments. However, the inherent “Not in my backyard” (NIMBY) effect presents substantial challenges to site selection decisions. While effective public participation is recognized as a potential solution, research on incorporating it into site selection decision-making frameworks remains limited. This paper aims to establish a multi-attribute group decision-making framework for WtE project site selection that considers public participation to enhance public satisfaction and ensure project success.

Firstly, based on consideration of public demand, a WtE project site selection decision indicator system was constructed from five dimensions: natural, economic, social, environmental and other supporting conditions. Next, the Combination Ordered Weighted Averaging (C-OWA) operator and game theory were applied to integrate the indicator weight preferences of experts and the public. Additionally, an interactive, dynamic decision-making mechanism was established to address the heterogeneity among decision-making groups and determine decision-maker weights. Finally, in an intuitive fuzzy environment, an “acronym in Portuguese of interactive and multi-criteria decision-making” (TODIM) method was used to aggregate decision information and evaluate the pros and cons of different options.

This study develops a four-stage multi-attribute group decision-making framework that incorporates public participation and has been successfully applied in a case study. The results demonstrate that the framework effectively handles complex decision-making scenarios involving public participation and ranks potential WtE project sites. It can promote the integration of expert and public decision-making preferences in the site selection of WtE projects to improve the effectiveness of decision-making. In addition, sensitivity and comparative analyses confirm the framework’s feasibility and scientificity.

This paper provides a new research perspective for the WtE project site selection decision-making, which is beneficial for public participation to play a positive role in decision-making. It also offers a valuable reference for managers seeking to effectively implement public participation mechanisms.