Identifying opportunities for initiating waste recycling: Experiences of typical developed countries

Abstract

Waste recycling is an effective way for sound waste management, which depends closely on the support of socioeconomic foundation. Which factors restrict waste recycling, and what level of socioeconomic conditions can potentially underpin a country for initiating waste recycling remain to be explored. In this study, a socioeconomic foundation framework consisting of five subsystems (Economy, Society, Technology, Market and Consciousness) is constructed. Principal component analysis and panel threshold regression model are combined to analyze the impacts and proper numerical ranges of the subsystems for waste recycling in 13 developed countries that are recognized as highly efficient upon waste recycling. The results indicate that social level, technological level and consciousness level all positively promote waste recycling, with social level showing the most intensive impact. Market level and economic level have threshold effect on waste recycling, namely, when economic level is within a certain range and market maturity exceeds a certain level an appropriate opportunity appears for initiating waste recycling. When suitable for waste recycling, typically, gross domestic product per capita ranges within 27,654–40,344 USD; use of renewable resources and wastes is larger than 5.07%; proportion of tertiary industry's value added is larger than 67.54%. The findings of this work provide other countries/regions with reference to adequate socioeconomic support and appropriate opportunities for initiating waste recycling.