Dynamic analysis of industrial solid waste metabolism at aggregated and disaggregated levels

Greater efforts should be made for the prevention and treatment of industrial solid waste (ISW). This study models an integrated ISW metabolism framework to explore socio-economic factors of ISW production changes for a case study of Guangdong province, China during 2002–2015. In detail, index decomposition analysis is innovatively conducted to quantify the relative contribution of socio-economic factors to ISW production changes. Waste metabolism input-output analysis is used to reveal internal structure of the system. More specifically, based on a new four-way classification method, components' dependence on the system are determined by linkage analysis. Using environmental responsibility analysis, their environmental responsibilities are assessed. The results show that decreasing ISW generation intensity and further optimizing industrial structure is the only way to Guangdong's ISW reduction at an aggregated sector-level. At a disaggregated sector-level, mining (M) is a key sector and should focus on income-based ISW regulations. Energy and materials transformation (ET) roles as a direct producer and has strong linkages to other sectors. As the largest final consumer, the others (OS) sector should consider consuming less ISW-intensive commodities.