The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Division of Environment and Sustainability, Room 4362, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Jilin University, School of Public Administration, No. 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun, China.
Waste Manag. 2022 Feb 15;139:352-361. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.12.039. Epub 2022 Jan 7.
In light of China's rising environmental governance focus on household waste recycling, this article analyses a novel recyclable waste recovery scheme, Ant Recovery, in Changchun, Jilin Province. In contrast to other recyclable waste collection systems, Ant Recovery emerged as a bottom-up venture established by members of the informal recycling sector in cooperation with the local recycling association. To assess the scheme's performance, the analysis uses field research data obtained over 21 days of observatory and questionnaire surveys at one of Ant Recovery's mobile collection points. Based on data from 1,501 documented recyclable waste transactions, the analysis indicates a median recovery rate of 438.4 kg/hour at the surveyed recovery station. Extended to the entire scheme's network in Changchun, the figure extrapolates to 2,034.6 metric tons/day, which approximates to roughly 94% of waste recyclables generated by the city's households. These achievements essentially result from two factors: (1) A beneficial policy environment established by central and local regulations and (2) AR's operational compatibility with daily routines and profit orientation of waste recyclable delivering stakeholders. In comparison to many other recycling systems in China, the alternative model in Changchun appears to be indigenous with little requirement for novel organisational structures or high capital/ overhead costs.
鉴于中国对家庭废物回收的环境治理关注度日益上升，本文分析了吉林省长春市一种新颖的可回收废物回收方案——蚂蚁回收。与其他可回收废物收集系统不同，蚂蚁回收是由非正式回收部门的成员与当地回收协会合作建立的自下而上的创业项目。为了评估该方案的绩效，分析采用了在蚂蚁回收的一个移动收集点进行的为期 21 天的观测和问卷调查的实地研究数据。基于 1501 笔可回收废物交易的记录数据，分析表明，在调查的回收站，每小时的平均回收率为 438.4 公斤/小时。扩展到长春市整个方案的网络，这个数字推断为 2034.6 吨/天，大致相当于该市家庭产生的废物可回收物的 94%。这些成就主要归因于两个因素：（1）中央和地方法规建立的有利政策环境；（2）蚂蚁回收的运营与废物可回收利益相关者的日常生活和盈利方向的兼容性。与中国许多其他回收系统相比，长春的替代模式具有本土性，几乎不需要新的组织结构或高资本/管理费用。
