Abstract
Urbanization and industrialization with minimal focus on environmental pollution has resulted in rapid degradation of natural environment demanding a fresh look at the pollution control strategies. An attempt has been made to address the problem, and a viable procedure for ranking of industries based on their environmental pollution potential has been proposed. Vagueness in the perception of environmental experts for ranking the technoβscientific parameters in linguistic terms for the specific usage coupled with imprecision in parametric data calls for the application of fuzzy modeling in this study. The formalized approach detailed in this article using fuzzy multicriteria decision making for ranking the industries is one of the important techniques in decision research. The case study discussed in this article relates to three dying and printing textile industries located in Surat, in the State of Gujarat, India. The feasibility of the proposed approach for ranking of the industries has been discussed. The approach detailed in this sequel might be considered as a small step in the formulation of appropriate environmental pollution control strategies. A commentary on pollution tax, stringent emission standards, and its effect on the ranking of industries with further research needs form an integral part of the article. Β© 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2008