Investigating recycling decisions of internet recyclers: A step towards zero waste economy.

Online recycling has been recognized as an efficient method for waste recycling. This paper focuses on the information asymmetry between an internet recycler and consumers in the online transaction of used products. This paper is to find an optimal strategy for the internet recycler when the consumers would make an adverse selection in submitting the classification results (the used products would be classified into two kinds according to the quality: High quality and Low quality) of used products in online orders to avoid the loss because of internet recycler's moral hazard, which might bring the extra cost for internet recycler. Therefore, this study used game theory to establish a Stackelberg game model for analyzing an internet recycler and consumers' decision-making in the online transaction of used products. Based on the analysis of consumers' behaviors in an online transaction, internet recycler's strategies are divided into two kinds: A, high moral hazard strategy, and B, low moral hazard strategy. It is found that the strategy of low moral hazard is optimal for the internet recycler compared to the strategy of high moral hazard. Further, though strategy B is optimal, the internet recyclers is suggested to increase their moral hazard probability when the H used products are increasing (High-quality ones). Besides, for strategy B, the correction cost for wrong H orders and correction benefit from correction of wrong L orders would decrease the optimal moral hazard probability, and the impact of the correction benefit from correction of wrong L orders on the decision of moral hazard probability is more obvious.

Mapping and visualizing of research output on waste management and green technology: A bibliometric review of literature.

The transition to a circular economy (CE) and environmental protection highly depends on waste management (WM) and green technology (GT). The purpose of this study is to examine the past two decades of WM and GT research to identify the most significant advancements and potential future research areas. Bibliometrics content analysis and text mining were utilized to resolve the subsequent issues: Has WM and GT research developed over time in the CE industry? Does WM and GT research have a clearly defined purpose? How do you foresee the future of WM and GT research in the context of CE evolving? Consequently, 1149 journal articles from the Scopus database were used to create and evaluate bibliometric networks. Therefore, five significant CE-related issues requiring additional research were identified: The first category is bio-based WM, followed by CE transition, GT, ecological impacts, municipal solid WM and lifecycle assessment, and finally, bio-based WM. Future research topics and a tool for the CE transition may be impacted by the investigation of inclusive WM systems, GT practices and their defining highlight patterns (which aim to minimalize waste generation). Future research goals include reducing waste and implementing WM into the CE framework.

An evolutionary game analysis on price competition in recycling industry between large and small enterprises of China.

This research aims to analyse and understand recycling phenomena and competition between large-scale and small-scale enterprises under different public attention. It mainly emphasizes service-providing behaviours to the consumers in the recycling industry, where recyclers are struggling to enhance their profits. The government strives to protect the environment by promoting an efficient recycling industry. As fast-growing waste products, the recyclers should achieve the advantage of number and be equipped with service capability for the consumers. Thus, this study employs an evolutionary game model to analyse the competition for waste products acquisitions between large and small recyclers. Due to a significant association between the service and acquisition waste product price for the consumers and recycling quantity, there is a strong mutual influence between the acquisition price of waste products and the price strategy-taken rate of large and small recyclers. Results also reveal that the market acquisition price and processing cost play a crucial role in recyclers' decision-making on setting prices for acquiring waste products from consumers. Furthermore, it is also found that waste products acquisition price and recyclers' processing cost are the key factors that affect large and small recyclers' recycling quantity.

Global food security post COVID-19: Dearth or dwell in the developing world?

Today, global food systems are highly susceptible to food safety risks, economic shocks, price volatility, and natural disasters and pandemics, such as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This paper draws from research on food and nutritional security, food fraud and associated economic ecosystem, and the disruptions due to COVID-19 for socio-economic inequality globally. It is concluded that the safety risks have pushed enforcement of measures to reduce food supplies, adversely impacting food availability. Also, COVID-19 is likely to raise fleeting food security and nutritional concerns across the globe, resulting in rises in poverty and food fraud, limiting food supply and access. Accelerated investments intended to develop more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient food systems will help shrink the effect of the pandemic and, hence, offer a way to control the foreseen food security crisis and economic growth.

Technological innovation and environmental taxes toward a carbon-free economy: An empirical study in the context of COP-21.

Carbon emissions are the main factor in environmental degradation, associated with climate change and global warming, which puts environmental sustainability at risk. Carbon dioxide is the main element to mitigate to achieve climate neutrality on the planet, which is present in fossil fuels highly demanded power generation. This environmental concern, which entails all economic agents' responsibility, has not gone unnoticed, so in 2015 the Paris Climate Conference (COP: 21) was held, whose main objective is to reduce carbon emissions on the planet. Post Paris agreement generates pressure on the signatory countries since the objectives set are a real challenge to achieve environmental sustainability. Thereby, this research aims to examine the long-term determinants of carbon emissions in 19 countries of the European Union that were part of the COP: 21. The Method of Moments' Quantile Regression approach is used, which considers the effects of location and scale in the conditional distribution of carbon emissions. The results show that clean energy, technology and environmental taxes contribute to mitigating carbon emissions; however, economic activity and industrialization causes an increase in environmental degradation. From the results obtained, the findings suggest some policy measures aimed at offsetting carbon emissions.

Investigating the effect of government subsidies on end-of-life vehicle recycling.

To have a deeper understanding of the Chinese market reaction for different subsidy policies made by the government, we establish a game model of the competition between legal recyclers and illegal recyclers with government involved. Further, we consider the quality differentiation of end-of-life vehicles in every player's decision-making. With a numerical simulation, the researchers validated this study. Based on the results of this research, we found that compared with the strategy of subsidizing the legal recyclers, subsidizing the end-of-life vehicle owners is more effective, and the legal recyclers would get more business from end-of-life vehicle owners. The quality of end-of-life vehicles plays a vital role when the recyclers make decisions on their recycling behaviour. Moreover, the differential subsidy policy will probably be useless if most of the end-of-life vehicles in the market are in poor quality. So, the Chinese government should adjust its policies on end-of-life vehicle market development based on the quality distribution of end-of-life vehicles, and the quality management should be implemented in the end-of-life vehicle supply chain for the efficiency and effectiveness of subsidy policies.

Investigating the effects of renewable energy on international trade and environmental quality.

This research investigates how renewable energy consumption interacts with international trade and environmental quality in Nordic counties from 2001 to 2018. The present study adopted the CIPS unit root test and cross-sectional dependence (CD) test to test the stationarity and diagnose the cross-sectional dependence issues, respectively. Further, the study employed a dynamic common correlated effect (DCCE) model for robustness. The findings revealed that renewable energy strongly and positively associated with international trade in Nordic countries. Also, the results indicate that renewable energy consumption improved to environmental quality. Therefore, policies to promote renewables can provide for economic growth and environmental sustainability and ensure crucial sustainable development goals. Further, the findings provide theoretical support for the formulation of eco-friendly policies to understand the role of renewable energy in spurring international trade, which supports balancing eco-environmental sustainability.

Infectious Waste Management Strategy during COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: an Integrated Decision-Making Framework for Selecting Sustainable Technologies.

The emerging and underdeveloped countries in Africa face numerous difficulties managing infectious waste during the SARS-CoV-2 disease, known as the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to help decision-makers in African countries to select the best available waste management strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research undertakes seamless assessment and prioritization of infectious solid waste (SW) and wastewater (WW) treatment technologies based on a criteria system involving four dimensions, i.e., environment-safety, technology, economics, and sociopolitics. A combined approach that integrates the results of life-cycle assessments and life-cycle costs (LCA-LCC), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and VIKOR method in an interval-valued fuzzy (IVF) environment is proposed. The results reveal that combined incineration and chemical disinfection approach, and combined chlorination and ultraviolet irradiation are the most sustainable technologies for managing infectious SW and WW treatment in the present context. The proposed approach, alongside the findings of the study, constitutes a reference to devise urgent planning for contagious waste management in African countries as well as developing countries worldwide.

Corporate social responsibility-an antidote for sustainable business performance: interconnecting role of digital technologies, employee eco-behavior, and tax avoidance.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have consistently contributed significantly to the economy's gross domestic product (GDP). Organizations are motivated to achieve sustainable performance by mitigating the adverse impacts of company operations by improving productivity and optimizing resource utilization. In order to achieve this objective, the businesses are making all their efforts and developing the systems to ensure sustainable performance. Based on the prevailing research gaps, the current study examines the role of a portfolio of responsible digital technologies (DT), which provides a competitive advantage and helps achieve sustainable firm performance (SFP). Using a simple random sampling technique, data from 294 textile manufacturing SMEs is collected and analyzed using the structural equation model (SEM) in AMOS v.24. The results indicated that digital technologies, tax avoidance, green employee behavior, and corporate social responsibility facilitated improving the SFP of SMEs. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the link connecting TA and SFP is unaffected by CSR activities aimed at the environment. This finding, however, should not lessen the importance of TA, which deserves significant attention and thought from management.

A thorough overview of the literature on waste recycling in the circular economy: current practices and future perspectives.

To develop a circular economy (CE) and protect the environment, waste recycling (WR) is crucial. This study examines WR research conducted over the past two decades to identify the most significant advancements and promising areas for future research. The following challenges were handled through text mining, content, and bibliometrics analysis: How has CE influenced the evolution of WR research? What are the CE's most important WR research trends and themes? What directions could future research on WR take regarding the CE transition? Using 1118 articles from the Scopus database journal, bibliometric networks were made and analyzed. Hence, five critical CE-related problems needing further research were recognized: waste recycling is the first cluster, followed by technology, the CE transformation, plastic waste, and waste management (WM). Examining WM and inclusive waste reduction practices and their distinct highlight patterns may impact future research fields and serve as a transitional tool to CE (which aims to minimize waste generation). Forthcoming research targets contain waste reduction and incorporation of WR into the CE framework.

Sustainable performance in SMEs using big data analytics for closed-loop supply chains and reverse omnichannel.

The study aims to examine the advantages of utilizing big data analytics (BDA) on circular economy (CE) dual systems, which are closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) and the reverse omnichannel (ROC), aiming to enhance sustainable firm performance (SFP) of the small and medium based enterprises (SMEs). The product return knowledge (PRK) can reinforce the proposed network of relationships and facilitate the approach of active returns in CE. Using the structural equation model (SEM) in AMOS v24, the researchers examined the hypotheses using data from a simple random sample of 232 SMEs in Pakistan. Though ROC solutions provide rare performance-related benefits, however, BDA makes the CE system more efficient. CLSC gets strengthened when the PRK is developed. The improved PRK facilitates the CLSC network and enhances its performance. This study adopts a novel approach to studying CE by considering the dual system of CE in the forms of CLSC and ROC. The research investigates whether the BDA facilitates improved product return processes by improving CLSC operations and achieving service capabilities using ROC. Finally, the proposed framework is the first to investigate the benefits evolving from the PRK, which enhance the capability to sense, seize, and reconfigure the process and facilitate the approach of active return in CE. The findings suggest that firms must decide carefully between CLSC and ROC. Choosing CLSC requires higher operational capabilities, whereas deciding on ROC requires higher service capabilities. Lastly, PRK is necessary for achieving the firm's performance objectives.

A Recent Digitalization in Recycling Industry Attaining Ecological Sustainability: A Comprehensive Outlook and Future Trend.

The management of waste through dual way of recycling (i-e offline and online) is assumed to have a key role in attaining ecological sustainability and enabling circular practices. The research on online recycling is gaining evolution in recent age. Prior literature on the current research theme has failed to provide a comprehensive outlook and future trend. Therefore, the current research intends to elaborate the current research scenario linked with online recycling by critically scrutinizing the prior research over the last 41 years. A comprehensive analysis was conducted using the Scopus database, retrieving a total of 866 articles. These articles were selected to provide a conceptual overview and understanding of the fundamental research conducted in the field. By employing bibliometric analysis this research provides comprehensive detail about evolution, mapping of publications and prominent trends from the year 1981 to 2022 to understand the practices and future trends of online recycling research. The outcomes elucidated that there is exponential increase in research publications relating to online recycling over the last five years. The most influential producer of online recycling research are China, United Kingdom and United States. Chinese Universities has the highest number of publications among all the countries across globe. Moreover, the current research trend is focused on technology based circular economy, industrial ecology, bio-based waste management, dual channel recycling, municipal waste, waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), environmental impact and lifecycle assessment. Hence, the prominent research perspective and highlighted features could offer recommendation for upcoming studies to contribute in literature and help practitioners, policymakers and professionals move towards circular practices.

Unlocking sustainable supply chain performance through dynamic data analytics: a multiple mediation model of sustainable innovation and supply chain resilience.

This article provides a theoretical framework for comprehending the connections between dynamic data analytics capability (DDAC), innovation capabilities (IC), supply chain resilience (RES), and sustainable supply chain performance (SSCP). Since this is the first empirical investigation of the sequential mediation effect between DDAC and SSCP through IC and RES, it fills a critical need in the supply chain literature. A quantitative methodology was used, involving a survey questionnaire distributed to 259 large Pakistani manufacturing firms. We used PLS-SEM to test for the expected associations. Findings show that using DDAC has a beneficial effect on both innovative and resilient capabilities, which in turn leads to better SSCP. The research illuminates the sequential mediating roles of product, process, and resilience, underlining the need of combining data-driven innovation with resilience in order to achieve sustainable supply chain performance. These results provide useful guidance for businesses that want to boost their sustainability results by taking a more all-encompassing approach to data-driven innovation and resilience.

The long-term dynamic relationship between communicable disease spread, economic prosperity, greenhouse gas emissions, and government health expenditures: preparing for COVID-19-like pandemics.

The spread of communicable diseases, such as COVID-19, has a detrimental effect on our socio-economic structure. In a dynamic log-run world, socio-economic and environmental factors interact to spread communicable diseases. We investigated the long-term interdependence of communicable disease spread, economic prosperity, greenhouse gas emissions, and government health expenditures in India's densely populated economy using a variance error correction (VEC) approach. The VEC model was validated using stationarity, cointegration, autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity, and normality tests. Our impulse response and variance decomposition analyses revealed that economic prosperity (GNI) significantly impacts the spread of communicable diseases, greenhouse gas emissions, government health expenditures, and GNI. Current health expenditures can reduce the need for future increases, and the spread of communicable diseases is detrimental to economic growth. Developing economies should prioritize economic growth and health spending to combat pandemics. Simultaneously, the adverse effects of economic prosperity on environmental degradation should be mitigated through policy incentives.

Interconnection between the role of blockchain technologies, supply chain integration, and circular economy: A case of small and medium-sized enterprises in Pakistan.

Increased industrialization has led to unprecedented resource depletion on a global scale. The current state of affairs has compelled practitioners and academics to investigate the role of sustainable technologies in greening the operations of businesses. Previous studies have attempted to examine the number of operational aspects for their role in making firms sustainable, yet the utility of blockchain technologies is in its infancy. The role of BT in enhancing integration across supply chains has been in the limelight in the recent past. At the same time, its ability to cause sustainable supply chain performance (SSCP) in sync with the circular economy (CE) and supply chain integration (SCI) has largely remained unexplored. Therefore, this study intends to examine the association between blockchain technologies (BTs) and SSCPs through integration to fill the empirical gaps. The study was pursued to investigate the moderating role of the CE on the relationship between multiple extents of SCI and SSCP. Based on dynamic capability theory (DCT), the study considered BT a dynamic resource. BTs are used to integrate and reenergize the relationships with upstream and downstream channel members in pursuit of sustainable performance outcomes. The study opted for a cross-sectional design, where data was collected through convenience sampling from 475 managers from SMEs operating across Pakistan. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data and to generate the required empirical outcomes. Study results favored the significant association between BT and SSCP, followed by a significant mediating role of SCI dimensions and moderating role of the CE. The study's findings propagate the utility of BTs adoption for SMEs, which holds the potential for firms to achieve system-wide integration to achieve sustainable outcomes. The given empirical investigation holds valuable insights for practitioners and scholars intending to pursue research on the subject matter.

A road map for environmental sustainability and green economic development: an empirical study.

In today's era, the world economy needs to move towards a green transformation. Green total factor productivity provides the judgment about a country or region's ability to achieve long-term sustainable development goals. However, many factors considerably affect green total factor productivity that needs to be explored and clarified. This panel study investigates the link between technological input, environmental policies, governmental involvement, manufacturing and logistics industry cooperation, renewable energy consumption, and green total factor productivity in the context of Chinese's manufacturing and logistics industry. Hypotheses are tested through fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) econometric technique. The study used 12 cities data mainly taken from China Urban Statistical Yearbook (2005-2019) and National Economic and Social Development Statistics Bulletin. The results indicate that technological input, environmental policies, governmental involvement, manufacturing and logistics industry cooperation, and renewable energy consumption are significantly linked to green total factor productivity. The result also implies that the factors mentioned above have a crucial role in the transformation process. Moreover, the current research results will help popularize green total factor productivity and provide a new starting point for reducing non-renewable energy consumption and environmental pollution.

The role of natural resources, renewable energy, and globalization in testing EKC Theory in BRICS countries: Method of Moments Quantile.

This paper aims to validate the EKC hypothesis for BRICS countries, in the presence of natural resources, renewable energy, and globalization factors. FMOLS, DOLS, Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR), and heterogeneous panel causality tests have been applied on the BRICS panel from 1990 to 2014. According to FMOLS and DOLS techniques, the EKC hypothesis does exist in BRICS countries in the presence of alternative energy resources and globalization, whereas quantile level analysis does not support globalization as a significant factor for environmental degradation. Quantile regression validates the EKC hypothesis with a direct association of natural resources and inverse association of renewable energy with environmental degradation. Heterogeneous panel causality also confirms the bidirectional Granger causality between all the variables and CO2, except globalization, which means that panel causality is endorsing the results of MMQR. Thus, it is recommended to encourage the usage of renewable energy resources in BRICS countries.

Waste management and green technology: future trends in circular economy leading towards environmental sustainability.

The effective treatment of waste to be used as a resource in future has a major role in achieving environmental sustainability and moving towards circular economy. The current research is aimed to provide in-depth detail regarding prominent trends and research themes, evolution, future research orientation, main characteristics, and mapping of research publications on waste management, technological innovation in circular economy domain from the year 2000 to 2021. Different analyses including text mining and bibliometric and content analyses were applied to answer the research question and provide the details on aforementioned variables. From the bibliometric analyses, a total of 1118 articles were drawn out from the Scopus database to conceptualize the core body of research. As a result, the following themes were identified: electronic waste, circular economy transition, plastic waste, bio-based waste management, lifecycle assessment, and ecological impacts, and construction and demolition waste management. The highlighted features, future research orientation, and prominent research perspective can provide guideline for future research to enrich the literature through conducting studies on provided research directions and help lead waste management and technological innovation policymakers, professionals, and practitioners in moving towards circular transition.

Assessing the Role of Green Finance and Education as New Determinants to Mitigate Energy Poverty.

Energy poverty (EP) is a problem that affects developed and developing economies, and its mitigation is of great significance to social welfare. EP affects Latin American countries, and policymakers have recently attempted to address this issue, particularly in the aftermath of the recent economic crisis. It is essential to measure and evaluate EP to implement strategies and policies effectively. Using a panel quantile regression approach, we investigate the heterogeneous impact of green finance, renewable energy (RE), and energy efficiency (EE) on EP for 33 Latin American countries from 2000 to 2018. Furthermore, certain associated control variables are incorporated into our model to avoid an omitted variable bias. According to empirical results, the impact of independent variables on EP is heterogeneous. Specifically, green finance is an essential source of alleviating EP, and it has a significant positive effect across all quantiles, but it is especially strong in the middle quantiles. RE and EE significantly mitigate EP, with the strongest effects occurring at higher quantiles. By including green finance, RE, and EE as the main explanatory determinants of EP, the findings urge policymakers in Latin American countries to design a comprehensive energy conservation policy to minimize the effects of massive EP.

Sustainable supply chain management and green technologies: a bibliometric review of literature.

To attain ecological sustainability and transition to sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), effective technological innovation (TI) and solid waste management (SWM), as likely impending resources, are essential components. From 2000 through 2021, a detailed map of SSCMs in the context of TI and systematic history will be created, highlighting the most significant research themes and trends, primary features, development, and possibly relevant areas for future study. Due to utilizing bibliometric analysis, text mining, and content analytics methodologies, the following concerns were addressed: (1) How has SSCM research progressed over time in the TI domain? (2) Which SSCM research areas and trends receive the most attention in the TI domain? Additionally, (3) what are the research directions for SSCM in the context of TI? As a result, bibliometric networks were developed and examined using 983 journal articles from the Scopus database to highlight the substantial body of literature. As a result, SSCM has been divided into five crucial study themes: (i) transition to TI, (ii) SSCM in closed-loop supply chains, (iii) municipal solid waste management (MSWM), (iv) environmental consequences and life-cycle evaluation, and (v) policymakers and practitioners in SSCM can use the SSCM research landscape and its primary highlight patterns to guide and add in the TI. Considering SSCM research as a way to reduce waste, future study directions are also suggested.