Stake Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Stake Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Waste Manag. 2020 Apr 1;106:62-70. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.03.013. Epub 2020 Mar 18.
China established a self-organized and market-driven recycling system, which was dominated by the informal sectors. In recent years, the amount of domestically-recycled waste paper grew slower than expectation in China, which may be resulted from a decline in economic sustainability of current recycling system. For understanding the waste paper recycling system in most cities in China, the economic mechanism remains unclear and the city-level data is extremely insufficient. In this work, an index of recycling sustainability (IRS, benefit divided by cost) is analyzed with a resolution of 1 km grid in Beijing City, by adopting value chain and GIS methodology. Five degrees of IRS are defined, from high-degree (IRS > 1.10) to low-degree (IRS < 0.95). Different stakeholders in the informal waste paper recycling system were interviewed to fill the data gap. Results show that: (1) from 2015 to 2018, the informal recycling of waste paper accounted for approximate 80% in Beijing; (2) the number of informal recyclables distribution sites decreased from 27 to 11, and their average distance to the city-center rose from 27.5 km to 40.9 km; (3) in 2015 and 2018, the grids with high-degree IRS accounted for 99.5% and 89.2%, respectively, indicating a sustainable waste paper recycling industry in Beijing; and (4) according to the scenario analysis, if the operating cost rises by 30%, the grids with low-degree IRS accounts for 98.5%, indicating a nontrivial challenges when the recycling cost keeps increasing in the future. Policy recommendations are put forward for a more sustainable paper waste recycling system in China.
中国建立了一个自我组织和市场驱动的回收系统，该系统主要由非正规部门主导。近年来，中国国内回收废纸的数量增长缓慢，低于预期，这可能是由于当前回收系统的经济可持续性下降所致。为了了解中国大多数城市的废纸回收系统，其经济机制仍不清楚，城市层面的数据也极其不足。在这项工作中，采用价值链和 GIS 方法，以 1 公里网格的分辨率，分析了北京市的回收可持续性指数（IRS，收益除以成本）。定义了五个等级的 IRS，从高等级（IRS>1.10）到低等级（IRS<0.95）。通过采访非正式废纸回收系统中的不同利益相关者来填补数据空白。结果表明：（1）2015 年至 2018 年，北京非正式废纸回收约占 80%；（2）非正式回收点的数量从 27 个减少到 11 个，其到市中心的平均距离从 27.5 公里增加到 40.9 公里；（3）2015 年和 2018 年，IRS 高等级网格分别占 99.5%和 89.2%，表明北京的废纸回收行业具有可持续性；（4）根据情景分析，如果运营成本上升 30%，IRS 低等级网格将占 98.5%，这表明未来回收成本不断增加将带来重大挑战。为建立更可持续的中国废纸回收系统提出了政策建议。
