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The rise and fall of a “waste city” in the construction of an “urban circular economic system”: The changing landscape of waste in Beijing

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  • Tong, Xin
  • Tao, Dongyan

Abstract

Waste is wicked because of its inextricable mix of social, economic, and environmental attributes. This paper presents the unexpected explosion of a “waste city”, Dongxiaokou, on the northern fringe of Beijing in the 2000s and its recent crash due to urban expansion. These events occurred within the background of the municipality's efforts to remake the waste/recycling space into an “urban circular economic system”. We illustrate the distressing challenge of waste as it is gradually exposed to urban governance in China. Our findings show that waste can be wicked because of the limits of its problem definition, which focuses on the environment and resources, but excludes the migrant scavengers from the local citizenry regardless their efforts for inclusion by the city. This limitation of the definition of the problem leads to conflicting values on waste and recycling between various stakeholders who are involved when the system needs to be upgraded. Conclusions suggest collaborative initiatives at the community level to build an inclusive space for recycling activities in cities in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Tong, Xin & Tao, Dongyan, 2016. "The rise and fall of a “waste city” in the construction of an “urban circular economic system”: The changing landscape of waste in Beijing," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 10-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:107:y:2016:i:c:p:10-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.12.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Martin Medina, 2008. "The Informal recycling Sector in Developing Countries : Organizing Waste Pickers to Enhance their Impact," World Bank Publications - Reports 10586, The World Bank Group.
    2. Xin Tong & Lin Yan, 2013. "From Legal Transplants to Sustainable Transition," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 17(2), pages 199-212, April.
    3. Sembiring, Emenda & Nitivattananon, Vilas, 2010. "Sustainable solid waste management toward an inclusive society: Integration of the informal sector," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(11), pages 802-809.
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    Cited by:

    1. Steuer, Benjamin & Ramusch, Roland & Part, Florian & Salhofer, Stefan, 2017. "Analysis of the value chain and network structure of informal waste recycling in Beijing, China," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 117(PB), pages 137-150.
    2. Goldstein, Joshua, 2017. "Just how “wicked” is Beijing’s waste problem? A response to “The rise and fall of a “waste city” in the construction of an “urban circular economic system”: The changing landscape of waste in Beijing”," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 117(PB), pages 177-182.
    3. Xueping Wu & Liping Zhang & Jianhua Huang & Wei Li & Yanhua Chen & Wenhai Qiu, 2021. "Evolutionary Game Analysis on Behavioral Strategies of Government and Residents in Municipal Household Waste Separation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.

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