Hierarchy performance assessment of industrial solid waste utilization - tracking resource recycling and utilization centers in China.

The massive production and accumulation of industrial solid waste (ISW) have led to environmental pollution and natural resource underutilization. China's efforts to build trial industrial waste resource utilization centers provide strong support for sustainable development. However, these centers and the factors driving ISW utilization have yet to be evaluated. This paper utilizes context-dependent data envelopment analysis models without explicit inputs (DEA-WEI) to evaluate the overall utilization performance of 48 industrial waste resource utilization centers in China from 2018 to 2020. It also builds a Tobit model to assess which indicators and waste types affect overall ISW utilization. The results show overall ISW utilization performance of centers in the sample has improved, with the average value falling from 1.7193 in 2018 to 1.5624 in 2020. However, there are clear regional performance gaps, with East China having the highest utilization performance (1.3113) while the Southwest had the lowest (2.2958). Finally, this paper proposes measures to improve the overall utilization of industrial waste resources based on an analysis of the factors driving solid waste utilization.

Urban ecological transition: The practice of ecological civilization construction in China.

Ecological civilization construction is an essential means of achieve sustainable development in China. It promotes not only the decoupling of environmental degradation from economic development, but additionally the coupling of positive ecological development with economic development. Presently, most of the research on ecological civilization focuses on its indices and evaluation methods. However, there exist some gaps such as the use of incomplete scientific indicators, and insufficient practice caused by inadequate sample size. In this study, we first take the evaluation framework for ecological civilization pilot areas combined with academic research to construct a comprehensive framework and indicator system. Second, we calculate the Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) for each of the pilot areas based on the entropy weight and identify typical industries that promote the coupling of ecology and economy. Third, we use the Relative Development Coefficient (RDC) to measure the development of ecology and economy between 2014 and 2019, and study the different kinds of development models for cities. Results of the study found that the regional economy is highly positive correlated with CCD, indicating a mutually reinforcing relationship between economic development and ecological development. Further, the RDC reveals that the level of urban ecological development is relatively higher at the stage of decoupling and coordination with economic system. Finally, strategic emerging industries are a common element in pilot areas with a high level of ecological development, as they offer higher economic output without the ecological degradation associated with traditional industries.