Spatial and temporal evolution and driving factors of county solid waste harmless disposal capacity in China

Abstract

Currently, China mainly adopts the waste treatment model of “household sorting, village collection, town transfer and county disposal.” Determining the spatial and temporal distribution of China’s county solid waste harmless disposal capacity and formulating strategies according to local conditions are of great significance in promoting the construction of beautiful villages in China and realizing the Beautiful China strategy. This paper explores the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of county solid waste harmless disposal capacity by selecting relevant data from 27 provinces in China from 2006 to 2020, and adopts the Dagum Gini coefficient method to measure the spatial gap of it. In addition, this paper empirically analyses the drivers affecting county solid waste harmless disposal capacity using the spatial Durbin model (SDM). The main conclusions are as follows: 1) In terms of time, county solid waste harmless disposal capacity in China as a whole shows a year-by-year increasing trend, especially after 2018 when the growth rate is faster. 2) In terms of spatial patterns, the solid waste harmless disposal capacity of coastal areas is generally higher than that of inland areas, and the distribution of provinces with low and middle levels of solid waste harmless disposal capacity is characterized by concentrated contiguity. From the perspective of spatial agglomeration, the characteristics of spatial agglomeration in the north are gradually becoming more pronounced, while those in the south are not significant. From the trajectory of the evolution of the spatial center of gravity, the center of gravity of county solid waste harmless disposal capacity as a whole shows a northeast, then northwest, then northeast movement, and the speed of “northward expansion” is greater than the speed of “eastward expansion”. 3) The results of the Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition show that the northeast has the smallest average annual rate of change in the Gini coefficient. The reduction of the within-group gap is an important driver towards equilibrium. The contribution of hypervariable density is decreasing year by year. 4) The number of harmless disposal plants, GDP per person, population urbanization, the number of township waste transfer stations and county waste disposal fixed asset investment are important drivers of county waste harmless disposal capacity. Findings provide helpful insights into optimizing rural habitat and promoting the comprehensive transformation of China’s county development.