循环经济——可持续的经济发展模式

循环经济是经济效益与环境效益有机结合的一种新的经济发展模式,将经济发展推向循环经济的轨道是保证可持续发展的重要举措。循环经济具有深刻的经济学基础和生态学基础,发展循环经济具有重要的现实意义,它是生态社会最适宜的经济发展模式,世界发达国家已在发展循环经济领域取得了较大成就。本文从循环经济的基础理论入手,阐述了我国发展循环经济的现状、重要意义和所面临的问题,提出我国发展循环经济的对策,并指出循环经济是中国21世纪经济可持续发展模式的必然选择。     

Until death do us part? In-depth insights into Dutch consumers’ considerations about product lifetimes and lifetime extension

Long-lasting electronic products contribute to a sustainable society; however, both expected and actual lifetimes are in decline. This research provides in-depth insights into consumers’ considerations about product lifetimes, barriers to extending lifetimes, and responses to a product lifetime label. Results of interviews (n = 22) with Dutch consumers suggest a positive view on long-lasting products. Nevertheless, their products’ value depreciated during their lifetimes. Consumers consider themselves unable to estimate how long products should last, which can be detrimental as low expectations tend to negatively influence actual lifetimes. Also, use intensity and consumers’ care(less) behavior influence the lifetime. To extend product lifetimes, consumers often disregard the option of repairing malfunctioning products. They have limited knowledge and ability, and believe repair provides poor value for money. Lifetime extension can also be hindered by market-related factors, such as convenient replacement services, new technological developments, and (attractive) deals. We suggest a product lifetime label should contain relevant and reliable information; furthermore, we recommend including (extended) warranty information. When information about repairability is included, potential negative responses should be considered. Finally, raising awareness about the environmental impact of short-lived products via a label may have a positive effect but requires more research attention.     

A review of methods to trace material flows into final products in dynamic material flow analysis: From industry shipments in physical units to monetary input–output tables,Part 1

Dynamic material flow analysis (dMFA) is widely used to model stock-flow dynamics. To appropriately represent material lifetimes, recycling potentials, and service provision, dMFA requires data about the allocation of economy-wide material consumption to different end-use products or sectors, that is, the different product stocks, in which material consumption accumulates. Previous estimates of this allocation only cover few years, countries, and product groups. Recently, several new methods for estimating end-use product allocation in dMFA were proposed, which so far lack systematic comparison. We review and systematize five methods for tracing material consumption into end-use products in inflow-driven dMFA and discuss their strengths and limitations. Widely used data on industry shipments in physical units have low spatio-temporal coverage, which limits their applicability across countries and years. Monetary input–output tables (MIOTs) are widely available and their economy-wide coverage makes them a valuable source to approximate material end-uses. We find four distinct MIOT-based methods: consumption-based, waste input–output MFA (WIO-MFA), Ghosh absorbing Markov chain, and partial Ghosh. We show that when applied to a given MIOT, the methods’ underlying input–output models yield the same results, with the exception of the partial Ghosh method, which involves simplifications. For practical applications, the MIOT system boundary must be aligned to those of dMFA, which involves the removal of service flows, sector (dis)aggregation, and re-defining specific intermediate outputs as final demand. Theoretically, WIO-MFA, applied to a modified MIOT, produces the most accurate results as it excludes massless and waste transactions. In part 2 of this work, we compare methods empirically and suggest improvements for aligning MIOT-dMFA system boundaries.     

Can a small island nation build resilience? The significance of resource-use patterns and socio-metabolic risks in The Bahamas

Resource-use patterns may entail systemic risks and cascade effects, which consequently inhibit the ability to deliver socioeconomic services. Identifying resource-use patterns exhibiting systemic risks and reshaping their combinations is a potential lever in realizing the transition to a sustainable, resilient, and resource-secure system. Using an island context to assess the quantity and composition of resource throughput enables a more comprehensive analysis of these risks. This article presents the first mass-balance account of socio-metabolic flows for The Bahamas in 2018, to identify socio-metabolic risks and cascading effects. Socio-metabolic risks are systemic risks related to critical resource availability, material circulation integrity, and (in)equities in cost and benefit distributions. We utilize the economy-wide material flow accounting framework to map the material flow patterns across the economy. In 2018, annual direct material input was estimated at 9.4 t/cap/yr, of which 60% were imports. High masses of waste (1.4 t/cap/yr) remained unrecovered due to the lack of recycling. Total domestic extraction (DE) were dominated by non-metallic minerals with more than 80%, while marine biomass makes up barely 1% of total DE. Due to its linear, undiversified metabolism, and heavy imports dependency, the system is susceptible to socio-metabolic risks and cascading effects including low levels of self-sufficiency, high vulnerability to shocks, commodity price fluctuations, threats to sensitive ecosystems, health impacts, and economic losses, among others. A holistic resource management strategy and nature-based solutions that consider the trade-offs and synergies between different resource-use patterns are critical when exploring potential plans for metabolic risk reduction.