Role of mining waste trade on green development in China: Policy implications for circular economy

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to assess the impact of mining waste trade on China's green development between 1980 and 2021, utilizing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique. The key findings reveal that the coefficients associated with mining waste trade amount to 0.15% and 0.07% for the long-term and short-term perspectives, respectively, indicating a positive influence of mining waste trade on green growth in China. Furthermore, enhancements in the circular economy index are demonstrated to effectively promote green economic growth in China. Conversely, the ecological footprint poses a threat to China's green prosperity. The adverse effects of the ecological footprint on green growth underscore that sustainable and environmentally-friendly economic growth potential diminishes as the ecological footprint expands. This paper puts forward practical policy recommendations which include reforming regulations concerning mining waste trade, fostering innovative technologies for efficient and eco-friendly processing and treatment of mining waste, actively creating or connecting to an e-commerce trading platform for mining waste, and implementing eco-friendly logistics and transportation practices in mineral waste trade.