Reinforced urban waste management for resource, energy and environmental benefits: China's regional potentials

Abstract

Urban waste management is a huge task for achieving regional sustainability. Reinforced waste management is being expedited to achieve enhanced resource, energy and environmental benefits (REEBs). In this study, an integrated municipal solid waste management system focusing on reinforced waste recycling and energy recovery is constructed. Considering regional disparities in waste composition and suitability for waste recycling, three scenarios with moderate, strengthened and complete waste collection and recycling levels are designed. Targeting 31 Chinese provincial regions, resource recovery potentials from recyclables, energy recovery potentials from incineration and anaerobic digestion, and mitigated environmental impact potentials in four aspects are evaluated. The results indicate that in 2019, the complete resource recovery capacity is 60.25 million tons (metal 4.3%, rubber & plastic 47.7%, glass 10.0% and paper 38.0%). Through incineration and anaerobic digestion, total power generation could amount to 36.39 billion kWh in the complete scenario. The complete mitigated potentials of global warming (52.5%) and eutrophication (43.1%) are much larger, followed by that of acidification (3.6%) and photochemical oxidization (0.8%). Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang and Sichuan are more advantageous in terms of the REEBs. The novelty of this study lies in the elaborative assessment of the integrative benefits of reinforced waste management incorporating regional socioeconomic disparities. The results are expected to offer help in policy making targeting sounder performance on REEBs from waste management.