IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i7p2874-d1619314.html

Multiobjective Optimization of the Economic Efficiency of Biodegradable Plastic Products: Carbon Emissions and Analysis of Geographical Advantages for Production Capacity

Author

Listed:
  • Junpeng Zhang

    (School of Management, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China)

  • Wei Zhong

    (School of Management, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China)

  • Ning Chen

    (Polymer Research Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China)

  • Yingbo Weng

    (School of Management, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to address the limitations of biodegradable plastics—low economic benefits and marketing difficulties. To this end, this study analyzed the production processes of two biodegradable plastics: polylactic acid (PLA) and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT). Based on this analysis, economic, technical, and environmental improvement indicators were constructed, and an optimization model with the three objectives of profit, carbon emission cost, and process risk was established. In this study, we embedded the improved NSGA-III algorithm to obtain the Pareto optimal solution set. We also proposed the entropy-weighted efficiency index (EWEI) for the analysis of transport advantages based on the distribution of biodegradable plastics production, road density, and regional prices. With a production line capacity of 10,000 tons and an 8% discount rate, the 10-year return of PBAT products was 7,039,931.23 yuan higher than that of PLA products. The profit of PBAT products was 488.92 yuan higher than that of PLA products per ton of production. However, PBAT products exhibited higher carbon-emission cost and process risk than PLA products, especially process risk, by 0.11%. The East China region has obvious geographical advantages, but the Southwest region is constrained by limitations in production capacity and the presence of mountainous terrain. Therefore, it is imperative to optimize China’s overall industrial layout of biodegradable plastics, strengthen the profit acquisition of biodegradable plastics, support the sustainable promotion of the biodegradable plastics market, and effectively minimize the environmental pollution caused by traditional plastics.

Suggested Citation

  • Junpeng Zhang & Wei Zhong & Ning Chen & Yingbo Weng, 2025. "Multiobjective Optimization of the Economic Efficiency of Biodegradable Plastic Products: Carbon Emissions and Analysis of Geographical Advantages for Production Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-24, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:7:p:2874-:d:1619314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/7/2874/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/7/2874/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ignatov, Augustin, 2024. "European highway networks, transportation costs, and regional income," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    2. Tian, Lichuan & Sun, Kai & Yang, Jie & Zhao, Yang, 2024. "Does digital economy affect corporate ESG performance? New insights from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 964-980.
    3. Chuanhao Liu & Peng Cui & Hongxia Zhao & Zhanzhen Zhang & Yanshuo Zhu & Huijiao Liu, 2024. "Green Finance, Economic Policy Uncertainty, and Corporate ESG Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Zhu, Shiqian & Tian, Haowen & Wang, Chenyu, 2024. "Economic indicator accuracy and corporate ESG performance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tong Yang & Cui Zhang, 2025. "Taxation Business Environment Optimization and Enterprise Innovation Efficiency: Empirical Evidence from China’s Policy Tests," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-21, February.
    2. Li, Huanyu & Wu, Hao & Rao, Jian, 2025. "Impact of artificial intelligence on corporate green transformation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    3. Xiong, Mengxu & Liu, Chen & Xiang, Junyi, 2024. "How financial derivatives affect energy firms' ESG," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Ma, Zongguo & Ding, Chenhui & Wang, Xu & Huang, Qiaozhi, 2025. "Carbon emission reduction development, digital economy, and green transformation of China's manufacturing industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Anzhu Xue & Guang Yang & Hui Wang, 2025. "The Impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) on the Green Development of Listed Companies in China’s Agricultural and Forestry Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-26, May.
    6. Xie, Zeyu & Mai, Zhanming & Yang, Mian, 2025. "Photovoltaic expansion and ecological trade-offs: Short-term vegetation loss and rapid recovery," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Liu, Yuanyang & Tian, Xuemei & Long, Yang, 2025. "Digital economy and corporate ESG performance: Cost reduction or efficiency improvement?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. Chen, Kejie & Xie, Jie, 2025. "Digital trade and corporate ESG performance— evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    9. Kang, Songhee & Hong, Ahreum, 2025. "Navigating ESG challenges in ICT: Risks and rewards across the pandemic landscape," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Duan, Dingkang & Wei, Ran & Wang, Chao & Xia, Bingyu, 2025. "Opportunity or obstacle? Climate risk disclosure and corporate ESG performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    11. Wang, Jiaqi & Yang, Rui, 2025. "The interrelation of criminal compliance, fintech, and corporate ESG," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PC).
    12. Liu, Rong & Duan, Na & Liu, Jingyi, 2025. "Research on the impact of social media advertisement placement on enterprises' economic benefits," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Zhang, Hu & Wei, Wei, 2025. "The impact of green investment policies on the development of new energy enterprises: Analysis based on heterogeneity and threshold effects," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    14. Wu, Ke & Zhang, Yongfang & Chen, Ying & Li, Miao, 2025. "Impact of digital finance on corporate ESG," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA).
    15. Mohd Amran Mahat & Mohd Yassir Jaaffar & Jismi Md Salleh & Muhammad Mukhlis Abdul Fatah & Shazali Shaharudin & Mohd Ariff Mustafa, 2025. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Green Finance and ESG Research: A Bibliometric Review of Global Trends and Emerging Themes (2000–2025)," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(7), pages 5269-5278, July.
    16. Wang, Mudan & Xie, Zeyu, 2025. "International trade barriers, export and industrial resilience: An empirical study based on the EU and USA antidumping and countervailing policies on photovoltaic products," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    17. Liu, Zhiyong & Lv, Buke & Liu, Zhaoxuan & Li, Wenshuai & Fu, Xingbang & Yao, Enjian, 2025. "Impact of Spatio-Temporal evolution of freeway networks on Socio-Economic Dynamics: A case study from Fujian, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    18. Yang, Qi, 2025. "Railway express and regional economic disparities," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Xu, Jinhua & Cai, Zhehui & Li, Xiaoxia, 2025. "Unveiling greenwashing trends: The curious effect of digital-driven M&As among listed Chinese firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    20. Qureshi, Fiza & Qureshi, Saba & Ismail, Izlin & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2025. "Unlocking economic insights: ESG integration, market dynamics and sustainable transitions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:7:p:2874-:d:1619314. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.