Structure of the global plastic waste trade network and the impact of China's import Ban
Structure of the global plastic waste trade network and the impact of China's import Ban
复制标题
全球废塑料贸易网络结构及中国进口禁令的影响
DOI：
10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104591
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发表时间：
2020-02-01
影响因子：
13.2
通讯作者：
Sutherland, John W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wang, Chao;Zhao, Longfeng;Sutherland, John W.
全球每年有数百万吨（兆克）的废塑料进行交易，这在部分替代原生塑料作为塑料产品制造的原材料来源方面发挥了重要作用。本文利用UN-Comtrade数据库，构建了1988 - 2017年全球塑料废弃物贸易网络（GPWTN）。分析了GPWTN的时空演化规律。在全球PWTN中，注意力集中在国家等级、洲际和洲际贸易流量以及地理视觉社区。本文还评估了中国塑料废物进口禁令对GPPWTN的直接和间接影响。结果表明，GPWTN具有小世界和无标度特性，具有核-外围结构。塑料废物贸易的地理结构是亚洲作为主要的进口国，北美和欧洲作为最大的塑料废物来源地。中国是全球废塑料贸易中无可匹敌的巨人。在中国实施进口禁令后，塑料废物贸易流主要转向东南亚国家。与进口国相比，出口国对全球预警网络的稳健性更为重要。显然，发达国家不会宣布禁止塑料垃圾出口;这些国家有强烈的动机继续将塑料垃圾转移到较贫穷的国家。但是，来自发展中国家的进口禁令将迫使发达国家建造新的处置设施，并在国内处理其塑料废物。
Millions of tonnes (teragrams) of plastic waste are traded around the world every year, which plays an important role in partially substituting virgin plastics as a source of raw materials in plastic product manufacturing. In this paper, global plastic waste trade networks (GPWTNs) from 1988 to 2017 are established using the UN-Comtrade database. The spatiotemporal evolution of the GPWTNs is analyzed. Attention is given to the country ranks, inter- and intra-continental trade flows, and geo-visual communities in the GPWTNs. We also evaluate the direct and indirect impacts of China's plastic waste import ban on the GPWTNs. The results show that the GPWTNs have small-world and scale-free properties and a core-periphery structure. The geography of the plastic waste trade is structured by Asia as the dominant importer and North America and Europe as the largest sources of plastic waste. China is the unrivaled colossus in the global plastic waste trade. After China's import ban, the plastic waste trade flows have been largely redirected to Southeast Asian countries. Compared with import countries, export countries are more important for the robustness of GPWTNs. Clearly, developed countries will not announce bans on plastic waste exports; these countries have strong motivation to continue to shift plastic waste to poorer countries. However, the import bans from developing countries will compel developed countries to build new disposal facilities and deal with their plastic waste domestically.