Identifying the socioeconomic determinants of industrial hazardous waste generation: South Korea as a case study

Daye Lee; Junbeum Kim; Guido Sonnemann; Hung-Suck Park

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166525

Identifying the socioeconomic determinants of industrial hazardous waste generation: South Korea as a case study

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Nov 25:901:166525. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166525. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Authors

Daye Lee¹, Junbeum Kim², Guido Sonnemann³, Hung-Suck Park⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Ulsan, 44610 Ulsan, South Korea; Université de Technologie de Troyes, InSyTE, 10300 Troyes, France; Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, ISM, UMR 5255, 33400 Talence, France.
² Université de Technologie de Troyes, InSyTE, 10300 Troyes, France. Electronic address: junbeum.kim@utt.fr.
³ Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, ISM, UMR 5255, 33400 Talence, France.
⁴ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Ulsan, 44610 Ulsan, South Korea; Department of Chemical Engineering, Ulsan College, 44610 Ulsan, South Korea. Electronic address: hspark@uc.ac.kr.

PMID: 37619735
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166525

Abstract

The South Korean government has set an ambitious target to reduce industrial hazardous waste (IHW) as part of its transition towards a circular economy. Moreover, effective management of IHW within the country has become crucial, given that IHW trade is regulated by the Basel Convention. Despite the urgent need for well-founded environmental policies, there is a lack of essential information on the characteristics and determinants of IHW generation, which hinders the effectiveness of existing IHW policies. To address this information gap, this study developed a South Korean extended IHW input-output model for 2008 and 2018 to characterize IHW generation and applied structural decomposition analysis to identify the socioeconomic determinant of change of IHW generation. The results reveal that consumption, export, and direct IHW intensity change of 'Chemical', 'Electronic and electrical equipment', 'Basic metal', and 'Other service' emerge as dominant determinants for IHW growth. Conversely, technology change, including technological structure change and direct IHW intensity change, of 'Basic metal' and 'Other service' is the key driver for IHW reduction. In addition, an intriguing aspect of the study relates to the supply chain's influence on IHW generation. The indirect growth of IHW resulting from expanding exports and consumption contributes nearly twice as much to the overall increase in IHW as direct IHW growth. These valuable insights pave the way for the South Korean government to establish holistic and customized environmental policies regarding IHW. It emphasizes the importance of considering expanded global system boundaries, technological advancements, and purchasers' consumption patterns as dominant factors in formulating these policies. Furthermore, this study not only provides crucial guidance for the government's decision-making but also suggests strengthening environmental management and monitoring practices.

Keywords: Circular economy; Environmentally-extended input-output analysis; Industrial hazardous waste; Structural decomposition analysis; Supply chain; Waste input-output analysis.