Policy making involves translating political visions into programs that seek to change a social behavior. To design these programs, decision makers must consider multiple aspects to achieve sustainable solutions. Furthermore, decision makers must manage interrelated information and preferences of different stakeholders to ensure the policy suits the community and accomplishes its goals. This research provides evidence of the applicability of the Choosing by Advantages (CBA) decision system to make environmental public policies, in particular to design a waste collection program for a city in Canada. The methodology is based on a case study where CBA was used to choose the recycling, organics, and PAYT (Pay as you throw) utility components of the program. To analyze the process, researchers measured decision makers’ perceptions of levels of satisfaction or frustration during the program-design process by conducting surveys with decision-makers at different stages in time. The research also measured decision-makers’ preference for applying CBA over traditional practices where no formal decision-making method is used, in terms of (1) reaching consensus and transparency, (2) making complex decisions, and (3) making faster decisions. The results show that CBA helped to include multiple aspects in designing for sustainability, and to consider the municipality and community preferences into the program. The study also evidenced that satisfaction levels increased as the process progressed. Finally, 75% of decision makers reported preference for CBA regarding reaching consensus and transparency, while this preference was milder (55%) regarding making complex decisions, and the opposite (27%) regarding making faster decisions.

政策制定涉及将政治视野转变为旨在改变社会行为的计划。要设计这些程序，决策者必须考虑多个方面以实现可持续的解决方案。此外，决策者必须管理相关的信息和不同利益相关者的偏好，以确保该政策适合社区并实现其目标。这项研究提供了证据，即优势选择（CBA）决策系统可用于制定环境公共政策，特别是为加拿大城市设计废物收集计划。该方法基于一个案例研究，其中使用CBA选择程序的回收，有机物和PAYT（即付即付）实用程序组件。要分析过程，研究人员通过在不同时间对决策者进行调查，来衡量决策者在计划设计过程中对满意度或挫败感的看法。该研究还测量了决策者在不使用正式决策方法的情况下相对于传统做法应用CBA的偏好，方面包括：（1）达成共识和透明性；（2）做出复杂的决策；（3）做出更快的决策。结果表明，CBA帮助在可持续性设计中纳入了多个方面，并在计划中考虑了市政和社区的偏好。该研究还证明，随着过程的进展，满意度会提高。最后，有75％的决策者表示，他们对达成共识和提高透明度表示青睐CBA，