Abstract
Material flow has been accelerated from underground natural minerals and is accumulating as aboveground waste stock. China is not only the largest producer and consumer of material-driven products, but also the largest generator of product waste. No official annual product waste data are released for China, which creates challenges especially in light of China’s emerging waste management policies. Previous studies have presented only estimations of waste streams for single products. In this study, we considered three product types and 33 technological products and collected all the available data. A Kuznets curve and Bass diffusion model were employed to forecast their future consumption. Based on urban consumption metabolism, we created one systematic estimation model of product waste generation related to material flow and social regulation. Typical technological product waste outflows were estimated from 2010 to 2050, which can assist further material flow and environmental impact research, as well as waste management policy-making and technology development. The created model can be potentially extended to other types of product waste estimation.
Highlights
Background & SummaryMaterials derived from biotic, mined and secondary sources are fundamental to the functioning of modern technologically advanced society[1]
More and more underground materials are consumed in the technological product and “stored” in product waste
Driven by the national call for an “ecological civilization”[6], China has embarked on an effort to implement solid waste management regulations and policies since 2010, covering waste electrical & electric equipment regulation (WEEE), waste import ban, solid waste sorting, revised end-of-life vehicle (ELV) regulation, and zero-waste city
Summary
Materials derived from biotic, mined and secondary sources are fundamental to the functioning of modern technologically advanced society[1]. Driven by the national call for an “ecological civilization”[6], China has embarked on an effort to implement solid waste management regulations and policies since 2010, covering waste electrical & electric equipment regulation (WEEE), waste import ban, solid waste sorting, revised end-of-life vehicle (ELV) regulation, and zero-waste city. Lack of basic data related to typical technological product waste is severely frustrating the sound implementation of these regulations and policy. National Development and Reform Commission regulated anthropogenic minerals for typical technological products waste, consisting of electrical & electric equipment (EEE), vehicle, and wiring & cable. China has no annual, officially released data of technological product waste generation. There is still no systematic estimation of solid waste generation, especially for typical technological product waste like WEEE, ELV, and waste wiring & cable (WWC). After considering the consumption principle and the restrictive regulation, we firstly collected the available data of three types of
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