IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v6y2014i12p9268-9281d43530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability Assessment of Solid Waste Management in China: A Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Xingpeng Chen

    (College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Tianshui South Road 222 #, Lanzhou 730000, China
    Research Institute for Circular Economy in Western China, Lanzhou University, Tianshui South Road 222 #, Lanzhou 730000, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Jiaxing Pang

    (College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Tianshui South Road 222 #, Lanzhou 730000, China
    Research Institute for Circular Economy in Western China, Lanzhou University, Tianshui South Road 222 #, Lanzhou 730000, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Zilong Zhang

    (College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Tianshui South Road 222 #, Lanzhou 730000, China
    Research Institute for Circular Economy in Western China, Lanzhou University, Tianshui South Road 222 #, Lanzhou 730000, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Hengji Li

    (Scientific Information Center for Resources and Environment, Lanzhou Branch of the National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianshui Middle Road 8 #, Lanzhou 730000, China)

Abstract

As the largest solid waste (SW) generator in the world, China is facing serious pollution issues induced by increasing quantities of SW. The sustainability assessment of SW management is very important for designing relevant policy for further improving the overall efficiency of solid waste management (SWM). By focusing on industrial solid waste (ISW) and municipal solid waste (MSW), the paper investigated the sustainability performance of SWM by applying decoupling analysis, and further identified the main drivers of SW change in China by adopting Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model. The results indicate that China has made a great achievement in SWM which was specifically expressed as the increase of ISW utilized amount and harmless disposal ratio of MSW, decrease of industrial solid waste discharged (ISWD), and absolute decoupling of ISWD from economic growth as well. However, China has a long way to go to achieve the goal of sustainable management of SW. The weak decoupling, even expansive negative decoupling of ISW generation and MSW disposal suggests that China needs timely technology innovation and rational institutional arrangement to reduce SW intensity from the source and promote classification and recycling. The factors of investment efficiency and technology are the main determinants of the decrease in SW, inversely, economic growth has increased SW discharge. The effects of investment intensity showed a volatile trend over time but eventually decreased SW discharged. Moreover, the factors of population and industrial structure slightly increased SW.

Suggested Citation

  • Xingpeng Chen & Jiaxing Pang & Zilong Zhang & Hengji Li, 2014. "Sustainability Assessment of Solid Waste Management in China: A Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:12:p:9268-9281:d:43530
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/12/9268/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/12/9268/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ness, Barry & Urbel-Piirsalu, Evelin & Anderberg, Stefan & Olsson, Lennart, 2007. "Categorising tools for sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 498-508, January.
    2. Zha, Donglan & Zhou, Dequn & Ding, Ning, 2009. "The contribution degree of sub-sectors to structure effect and intensity effects on industry energy intensity in China from 1993 to 2003," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 895-902, May.
    3. Wagner, Jeffrey, 2011. "Incentivizing sustainable waste management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 585-594, February.
    4. Gengyuan Liu & Zhifeng Yang & Bin Chen & Yan Zhang & Meirong Su & Lixiao Zhang, 2013. "Emergy Evaluation of the Urban Solid Waste Handling in Liaoning Province, China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-21, October.
    5. Ziolkowska, Jadwiga R. & Ziolkowski, Bozydar, 2011. "Product generational dematerialization indicator: A case of crude oil in the global economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 5925-5934.
    6. Xu, X.Y. & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Index decomposition analysis applied to CO2 emission studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 313-329.
    7. Lie Yang & Zhulei Chen & Ting Liu & Rui Wan & Jia Wang & Wengang Xie, 2013. "Research output analysis of municipal solid waste: a case study of China," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 96(2), pages 641-650, August.
    8. Donglan, Zha & Dequn, Zhou & Peng, Zhou, 2010. "Driving forces of residential CO2 emissions in urban and rural China: An index decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3377-3383, July.
    9. Christian Zurbrügg & Marco Caniato & Mentore Vaccari, 2014. "How Assessment Methods Can Support Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries—A Critical Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-26, January.
    10. Ang, B.W. & Zhang, F.Q., 2000. "A survey of index decomposition analysis in energy and environmental studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1149-1176.
    11. Schluchter Wolf & Rybaczewska- Błażejowska Magdalena, 2012. "Life cycle sustainability assessment of municipal waste management systems," Management, Sciendo, vol. 16(2), pages 361-372, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Esposito & Spiridione Lucio Dicorato & Emanuele Doronzo, 2021. "The effect of ownership on sustainable development and environmental policy in urban waste management: An explicatory empirical analysis of Italian municipal corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1067-1079, February.
    2. Antonio Jacintos Nieves & Gian Carlo Delgado Ramos, 2023. "Advancing the Application of a Multidimensional Sustainable Urban Waste Management Model in a Circular Economy in Mexico City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-23, August.
    3. Zhang, Zilong & Chen, Xingpeng & Heck, Peter & Xue, Bing & Liu, Ye, 2015. "Empirical study on the environmental pressure versus economic growth in China during 1991–2012," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 182-193.
    4. Bei Xiong & Ruimei Wang, 2020. "Effect of Environmental Regulation on Industrial Solid Waste Pollution in China: From the Perspective of Formal Environmental Regulation and Informal Environmental Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, October.
    5. Bing Xue & Mario Tobias, 2015. "Sustainability in China: Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-7, March.
    6. Doreen Fedrigo-Fazio & Jean-Pierre Schweitzer & Patrick Ten Brink & Leonardo Mazza & Alison Ratliff & Emma Watkins, 2016. "Evidence of Absolute Decoupling from Real World Policy Mixes in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-22, May.
    7. Zilong Zhang & Bing Xue & Jiaxing Pang & Xingpeng Chen, 2016. "The Decoupling of Resource Consumption and Environmental Impact from Economic Growth in China: Spatial Pattern and Temporal Trend," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, February.
    8. Mengqi Quan & Quan Guo & Qing Xia & Min Zhou, 2021. "Research on the Effects of Environmental Regulations on Industrial-Technological Innovation Based on Pressure Transmission," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, October.
    9. Syed Turab Raza & Jia Liang Tang & Zulfiqar Ali & Zhiyuan Yao & Hamidou Bah & Hassan Iqbal & Xiao Ren, 2020. "Ammonia Volatilization and Greenhouse Gases Emissions during Vermicomposting with Animal Manures and Biochar to Enhance Sustainability," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Khan, Imran & Kabir, Zobaidul, 2020. "Waste-to-energy generation technologies and the developing economies: A multi-criteria analysis for sustainability assessment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 320-333.
    11. Kalimeris, Panos & Bithas, Kostas & Richardson, Clive & Nijkamp, Peter, 2020. "Hidden linkages between resources and economy: A “Beyond-GDP” approach using alternative welfare indicators," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    12. Leslier Valenzuela-Fernández & Manuel Escobar-Farfán, 2022. "Zero-Waste Management and Sustainable Consumption: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Mapping Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-24, December.
    13. Quetzalli Aguilar-Virgen & Paul Taboada-González & Eduardo Baltierra-Trejo & Liliana Marquez-Benavides, 2017. "Cutting GHG Emissions at Student Housing in Central Mexico through Solid Waste Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-12, August.
    14. Ping Zhang & Xiaojuan Yang & Hua Chen & Sidong Zhao, 2023. "Matching Relationship between Urban Service Industry Land Expansion and Economy Growth in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-29, May.
    15. Junheng Qi & Mingxing Hu & Bing Han & Jiemin Zheng & Hui Wang, 2022. "Decoupling Relationship between Industrial Land Expansion and Economic Development in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, July.

    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. Chen, Jiandong & Cheng, Shulei & Song, Malin, 2018. "Changes in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions of the agricultural sector in China from 2005 to 2013," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 748-761.
    2. Dequn Zhou & Xiao Liu & Peng Zhou & Qunwei Wang, 2017. "Decomposition Analysis of Aggregate Energy Consumption in China: An Exploration Using a New Generalized PDA Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Yuzhuo Huang & Yosuke Shigetomi & Andrew Chapman & Ken’ichi Matsumoto, 2019. "Uncovering Household Carbon Footprint Drivers in an Aging, Shrinking Society," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Wang, Qunwei & Chiu, Yung-Ho & Chiu, Ching-Ren, 2015. "Driving factors behind carbon dioxide emissions in China: A modified production-theoretical decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 252-260.
    5. Ang, B.W. & Wang, H., 2015. "Index decomposition analysis with multidimensional and multilevel energy data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 67-76.
    6. Du, Kerui & Xie, Chunping & Ouyang, Xiaoling, 2017. "A comparison of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission trends among provinces in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 19-25.
    7. Ling Yang & Michael L. Lahr, 2019. "The Drivers of China’s Regional Carbon Emission Change—A Structural Decomposition Analysis from 1997 to 2007," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, June.
    8. Kaivo-oja, J. & Luukkanen, J. & Panula-Ontto, J. & Vehmas, J. & Chen, Y. & Mikkonen, S. & Auffermann, B., 2014. "Are structural change and modernisation leading to convergence in the CO2 economy? Decomposition analysis of China, EU and USA," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 115-125.
    9. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "An analysis of the driving forces of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in China’s industrial sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 838-849.
    10. Ang, B.W. & Goh, Tian, 2019. "Index decomposition analysis for comparing emission scenarios: Applications and challenges," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 74-87.
    11. Xuankai Deng & Yanhua Yu & Yanfang Liu, 2015. "Effect of Construction Land Expansion on Energy-Related Carbon Emissions: Empirical Analysis of China and Its Provinces from 2001 to 2011," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-22, June.
    12. Baležentis, Alvydas & Baležentis, Tomas & Streimikiene, Dalia, 2011. "The energy intensity in Lithuania during 1995–2009: A LMDI approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7322-7334.
    13. Shiraki, Hiroto & Matsumoto, Ken'ichi & Shigetomi, Yosuke & Ehara, Tomoki & Ochi, Yuki & Ogawa, Yuki, 2020. "Factors affecting CO2 emissions from private automobiles in Japan: The impact of vehicle occupancy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    14. Ma, Chunbo, 2014. "A multi-fuel, multi-sector and multi-region approach to index decomposition: An application to China's energy consumption 1995–2010," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 9-16.
    15. Mousavi, Babak & Lopez, Neil Stephen A. & Biona, Jose Bienvenido Manuel & Chiu, Anthony S.F. & Blesl, Markus, 2017. "Driving forces of Iran's CO2 emissions from energy consumption: An LMDI decomposition approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 804-814.
    16. Zhang, Junyi & Teng, Fei & Zhou, Shaojie, 2020. "The structural changes and determinants of household energy choices and energy consumption in urban China: Addressing the role of building type," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    17. Xin Yang & Chunbo Ma & Anlu Zhang, 2016. "Decomposition of Net CO 2 Emission in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area of Central China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-13, August.
    18. Shigetomi, Yosuke & Matsumoto, Ken'ichi & Ogawa, Yuki & Shiraki, Hiroto & Yamamoto, Yuki & Ochi, Yuki & Ehara, Tomoki, 2018. "Driving forces underlying sub-national carbon dioxide emissions within the household sector and implications for the Paris Agreement targets in Japan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 2321-2332.
    19. Banie Naser Outchiri, 2020. "Contributing to better energy and environmental analyses: how accurate are decomposition analysis results?," Cahiers de recherche 20-11, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    20. Huang, Yun-Hsun, 2020. "Examining impact factors of residential electricity consumption in Taiwan using index decomposition analysis based on end-use level data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).

    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:6:y:2014:i:12:p:9268-9281:d:43530. 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.