During the last century international trade has become indispensable for many economies. This is not only the case for trade in primary raw materials and consumer products but also for secondary (recyclable) materials. With the rapid growth of the recycling sector worldwide, trade in recyclables increased tremendously. It is striking that most of this trade flows from developed to developing countries. This book addresses the main causes of this typical trade pattern and investigates its economic and environmental effects by carrying out case studies on waste paper imports in India, waste plastics imports in China, and used-tyre trade in Europe. The book concludes by recommending policies that are aimed at preventing negative economic and environmental effects potentially resulting from trade in recyclables. The book offers new ideas to researchers who are involved in international trade, material flows, and waste management, and provides new insights for decision-makers who are interested in WTO and the Basel Convention.

Studies that integrate scientific, technological, and economic dimensions of industrial ecology and material flows. The use of economic modeling techniques in industrial ecology research provides distinct advantages over the customary approach, which focuses on the physical description of material flows. The thirteen chapters of Economics of Industrial Ecology integrate the natural science and technological dimensions of industrial ecology with a rigorous economic approach and by doing so contribute to the advancement of this emerging field. Using a variety of modeling techniques (including econometric, partial and general equilibrium, and input-output models) and applying them to a wide range of materials, economic sectors, and countries, these studies analyze the driving forces behind material flows and structural changes in order to offer guidance for economically and socially feasible policy solutions. After a survey of concepts and relevant research that provides a useful background for the chapters that follow, the book presents historical analyses of structural change from statistical and decomposition approaches; a range of models that predict structural change on the national and regional scale under different policy scenarios; two models that can be used to analyze waste management and recycling operations; and, adopting the perspective of local scale, an analysis of the dynamics of eco-industrial parks in Denmark and the Netherlands. The book concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of an economic approach to industrial ecology.

Handbook of Recycling, Second Edition, Winner of the International Solid Waste Association's 2014 Publication Award, is an authoritative review of the current state of recycling, reuse and reclamation processes commonly implemented today and how they interact with one another. Fully updated to cover recent developments in the field, this second edition has also been restructured to cover General Aspects of Recycling, Applications, Technology, Recovery and Collection, Economics, Governance and Policy. Several new chapters on global recycled material flows, sludges, reinforced plastics, and landfill mining have been added. It concludes with a review of the policy and economic implications, including the impact of recycling on energy use, sustainable development, and the environment.This book is a crucial aid to students and researchers in a range of disciplines, from materials and environmental science to public policy studies. - Chapters authored by key experts from academia, industry, and the policymaking community - Provides a thorough analysis from theory to practice to deeply understand the fundamentals, dynamics, complex interactions, opportunities, and challenges of recycling, within the larger picture of a circular system - Describes the state of the art and lessons learned, to understand future challenges in recycling of a wide variety of products, materials, and waste flows - Introduces the tools and practices to understand the opportunities and limitations of recycling in the context of a circular economy

Cents and Sustainability is a clear-sighted response to the 1987 call by Dr Gro Brundtland in Our Common Future to achieve a new era of economic growth that is 'forceful and at the same time socially and environmentally sustainable'. The Brundtland Report argued that not only was it achievable, but that it was an urgent imperative in order to achieve a transition to sustainable development while significantly reducing poverty and driving 'clean and green' investment. With some still arguing for significantly slowing economic growth in order to reduce pressures on the environment, this new book, Cents and Sustainability, shows that it is possible to reconcile the need for economic growth and environmental sustainability through a strategy to decouple economic growth from environmental pressures, combined with a renewed commitment to achieve significant environmental restoration and poverty reduction. Beginning with a brief overview of some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, the book then explains 'decoupling theory', overviews a number of factors that can undermine and even block efforts to decouple in both developed and developing countries, and then discusses a number of key considerations to assist the development of national 'decoupling strategies'. The book then focuses on presenting evidence to support greater action, not just on climate change, but also on decoupling economic growth from the loss of biodiversity and the deterioration of natural systems, freshwater extraction, waste production, and air pollution. In the lead up to the 2012 United Nations Earth Summit and beyond, Cents and Sustainability will be a crucial guide to inform and assist nations to develop strategies to significantly reduce environmental pressures, strengthen their economy, create jobs and reduce poverty. 'I commend the team from The Natural Edge Project and their partners for undertaking to develop a response to 'Our Common Future' to mark its 20th anniversary.' Dr Gro Brundtland. Sequel to The Natural Advantage of Nations Published with The Natural Edge Project

As a core volume in the Dynamics of Economic Space series, contributors from North America, Australasia, Europe and the Middle East each address the constitutive processes of new economic and institutional spaces and the theoretical, methodological and policy-engaging practices of emerging economic geographies. Together, they provide a timely and important overview of the current debates about the geographies of economic change. As national and regional economies change rapidly, so the frameworks, concepts and methods used to describe and analyse those processes also need to evolve. This volume puts forward a comprehensive analysis of a range of different and innovative means currently available, through which to view regional economic activities and interactions.

Proposing international trade as a path for achieving the SDGs, this curated collection envisions a more equitable and sustainable world, one where the benefits of international trade are fairly distributed, where economic crises are met with resilience and innovation and where the SDGs are not just aspirations but lived realities.

Reaching beyond the usual terrain of economic engagement, this edited collection confronts critical issues to demand urgent analytical attention and a harnessing of the economic potential at stake.

For the last few thousand years, humanity has struggled to achieve sustainable development. Gillespie sees the problem as multi-faceted: a three legged stool of economic, social, and environmental conundrums have stalled the quest for the long term viability of both our species and the ecosystems in which we reside. Gillespie moves from the low life expectancy, excessive deforestation, and wetland drainage of the medieval period, through the species loss, coal burning, free trade, and poor waste management of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and to the more recent concerns of climate change, unsustainable fisheries, and chemical pollutants. By delivering a comprehensive examination of human survival over the past millennium, Gillespie illustrates that the challenges we face are not new - that we now have the means to counter them, is.

By introducing emissions as an input in an aggregate production function, The Impact of Environmental Emissions and Aggregate Economic Activity on Industry: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives enhances an awareness of the trade-off between emissions and growth where the intersection between economy and environment needs it most.

Computational Models in the Economics of Environment and Development provides a step-by-step guide in designing, developing, and solving non-linear environment-development models. It accomplishes this by focusing on applied models, using real examples as case studies. Additionally, it gives examples of developing policy interventions based on quantitative model results. Finally, it uses a simple computer program, GAMS, to develop and solve models. This book is targeted towards university lecturers and students in economic modeling and sustainable development, but is also of particular interest to researchers at sustainable development research institutes and policy makers at international sustainable development policy institutions such the World Bank, UNDP, and UNEP.