School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), Shenzhen 518055, China; Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Institute for Global Public Policy, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Waste Manag. 2023 Jun 15;165:94-107. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.04.012. Epub 2023 Apr 27.
Chinese cities are experiencing rapid urban development while facing severe challenges of environmental pollution. China's central government has proposed several policies to reduce urban waste. However, little is known about the adoption of these policies. Here, we raise the question how can circular policies be classified, and how can this classification be applied to cities in China that wish become zero-waste cities? We develop a framework to classify urban waste policies according to: (a) the "5R" principles ("Rethink", "Reduce", "Reuse", "Recycle", and "Recover"), (b) four types of waste (industrial, agricultural, municipal, and hazardous) and (c) six types of policy instruments (legal, economic, network, communication, innovation and projects). We use this framework to analyze urban waste policies implemented by sixteen zero-waste demonstration projects in China. The present study emphasizes combinations of policy instruments, "R" strategy and waste type in the implementation of zero-waste policies. We find that the "Rethink", "Reduce", and "Recycle" principles have been widely implemented by local authorities in contrast to the principles "Reuse" and "Recover". Local governments address waste management by embracing regulations, innovation instruments, and project arrangements, while network-based, economic, or communicative policy instruments are used less often. Based on the results we suggest that local governments embrace a comprehensive approach to the use of the "5R" principles and deploy a diverse portfolio of policy instruments.
中国城市在快速发展的同时，面临着环境污染的严峻挑战。中国中央政府已经提出了一些减少城市废物的政策。然而，对于这些政策的采用情况知之甚少。在这里，我们提出了一个问题，即如何对循环政策进行分类，以及如何将这种分类应用于希望成为零废物城市的中国城市？我们开发了一个框架，根据以下标准对城市废物政策进行分类：（a）“5R”原则（“重新思考”、“减少”、“再利用”、“回收”和“再利用”），（b）四类废物（工业、农业、城市和危险废物）和（c）六种政策工具（法律、经济、网络、沟通、创新和项目）。我们用这个框架来分析中国 16 个零废物示范项目实施的城市废物政策。本研究强调了在实施零废物政策中政策工具、“R”策略和废物类型的组合。我们发现，与“再利用”和“再利用”原则相比，地方当局广泛实施了“重新思考”、“减少”和“回收”原则。地方政府通过采用法规、创新工具和项目安排来解决废物管理问题，而网络、经济或沟通政策工具的使用则较少。基于这些结果，我们建议地方政府采取综合方法来使用“5R”原则，并部署多样化的政策工具组合。
