Economic and environmental impact of waste management in Shanghai

Abstract

In recent 20 years, the main management mode of Shanghai municipal solid waste is mixed management, including landfill and incineration capacity, which is harmful to the environment and has a low recovery rate. Under the background of urbanization development of Shanghai and limited waste production capacity, Shanghai officially established a garbage classification system in 2017. This paper first discusses the waste management mode in Shanghai. Then, it uses the costbenefit analysis and net environmental benefit analysis in economics to monetize and value the benefits brought by different waste management modes, so as to provide data support for garbage classification mode. For the traditional waste management the net cost of the mixed collection waste management is 414.96 yuan/ton. For the waste classification management the net cost of final disposal per ton is 337.3 yuan per ton. The results show that the waste classification management mode has higher social, economic, and ecological benefits than the previous mixed management mode. In addition, according to the data and conclusions, the paper also puts forward some reasonable suggestions for the development of garbage classification system.