Reverse logistics in the Chinese auto-parts firms: implementation framework development through multiple case studies

In recent years, the implementation of reverse logistics (RL) in automobile manufacturing has drawn extensive interest from the Chinese government that has launched relevant take-back and environmental regulations and pilot projects. This study focuses on RL implementation issues in Chinese auto-parts manufacturing sector. Based on comprehensive literature review and multiple case studies in the Chinese auto-parts firms, this paper proposes a conceptual RL framework and highlights the major implementation issues. The purpose of this paper is to draw an overall picture of RL in the Chinese context, highlighting implementation issues in the auto-parts sector. Our study suggests that Chinese RL implementation requires close government monitoring mechanism and incentives, top management commitment within firms, technology and human capabilities support.     

Development of environmental management system in China’s financial sector

The establishment of the environmental management system in the financial sector can be effectively promoted through the introduction of the environmental protection concept and its implementation by the financial sector. The impact of a sustainable development system on the sector is analyzed in this article from three aspects: environmental risk assessment, financing support for environmental protection projects, and financial services to environmentally friendly corporations and individuals. Influential factors on the development of the environmental management system in China’s financial sector are discussed from the perspective of various entities such as financial institutions, financial regulation authorities, environmental protection departments, corporations, and the public. It is pointed out that China’s financial sector is now in the transitional phase from a defensive attitude to a preventive attitude. Strengthening governmental guidance, the supervision of regulators as well as public awareness of environmental protection should be used to enhance the initiative in the development of the environmental management system in the Chinese financial sector.     

Technical efficiency analysis of the conversion of cropland to forestland program in Jiangxi,Shaanxi, and Sichuan

Conversion of Cropland to Forestland Program (CCFP) has greatly impacted China’s agricultural sector, and more specifically rural farmers. While changes in living standards as a result of the implementation of the CCFP have been analyzed, little research has been conducted regarding the impacts of such policies on farming operations. As agriculture contributes nearly 10% of national GDP, it is important to analyze the implications of policies on a national industry. An input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was used to examine the technical efficiency of farming operations following implementation of the CCFP, using survey data from farmers in Jiangxi, Shaanxi, and Sichuan provinces. Additionally, the impact of factors such as urbanization, age and education, and land fragmentation was examined with respect to farming operational efficiency. Scale inefficiency was found to have the greatest effect on overall inefficiency in farming operations in comparison to pure technical inefficiency, which was largely influenced by the presence and degree of land fragmentation of land holdings. Findings can be used to inform national land-use policies facilitating land fragmentation in China and address gaps in existing broader level studies that utilize non-parametric approaches to examine the technical efficiency of Chinese farmers affected by the CCFP.     

Comparison on End-of-Life strategies of WEEE in China based on LCA

As the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) are upgraded more frequently in China, a large quantity of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) was and will be generated. It becomes an urgent issue to develop and adopt an effective End-of-Life (EoL) strategy for EEE in order to balance the resource recovery and environmental impacts. In an EoL strategy hierarchy for EEE, reuse strategy is usually deemed to be prior to materials recovery and other strategies. But in practice, the advantages and disadvantages of different strategies are always context-dependent. Therefore, main EoL strategies for EEE in China need to be evaluated in environment and resources aspects from the life cycle perspective. In this study, the obsolete refrigerator and Power Supply Unit (PSU) of desktop PC are both taken as the target products. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is applied to assess the environmental impacts of different EoL scenarios in China: Unit Reuse Scenario (URS), Component Reuse Scenario (CRS) and Materials Recovery Scenario (MRS). The LCA results show that the EoL strategies hierarchy is reasonable for the part of computer, but not necessarily suitable for obsolete refrigerators. When the policy makers promote or demote one EoL strategy especially reuse, it is necessary to take subsequent impacts into consideration.

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Evaluating 22 EU member states’ ‘waste culture’ using Hofstede’s and Schwartz’s cultural dimensions

The issue of municipal solid waste (MSW) arisings has received great attention recently since it is not only a by-product of economic activity but also serves as an input to the economy through material or energy recovery. The main focus of this study is cultural formation and especially the current picture of waste culture and public perception across European Union (EU) member states. Thus, this study will first evaluate environmental efficiency with data envelopment analysis (DEA) based on five parameters: waste, gross domestic product (GDP), labour, capital, and population density for 22 EU Member States and for the years 2005, 2010 and 2015 in order to evaluate which Member States are more efficient. Then the efficiency results are contrasted to Hofstede’s and Schwartz’s cultural dimensions on STATA with the use of regression modelling. Results show that for year 2005 no significant relationship is noticed for both cultural models, whereas for years 2010 and 2015 there appears to be a significant connection. The above-mentioned findings can be associated with the financial crisis that has hit Europe after 2008 making people more sceptical, while EU legislations have laid out some important directives in the field of waste management. Finally, along with the factors above, EU has faced severe environmental challenges due to waste arisings, as well as accidents and injuries for people working in this sector, which in turn have widely modified EU’s waste culture as supported by this study’s results.     

Determination of the potential implementation impact of 2016 ministry of environmental protection generic assessment criteria for potentially contaminated sites in China

The Ministry of Environmental Protection of China issued a 3rd draft edition of risk-based Generic Assessment Criteria (the MEP-GAC) in March 2016. Since these will be the first authoritative GAC in China, their implementation is likely to have a significant impact on China’s growing contaminated land management sector. This study aims to determine the potential implementation impact of the MEP-GAC through an in-depth analysis of the management context, land use scenarios, health criteria values adopted and exposure pathways considered. The MEP-GAC have been proposed for two broad categories of land use scenarios for contaminated land risk assessment, and these two categories of land use scenarios need to be further delved, and a MEP-GAC for Chinese cultivated land scenario ought to be developed, to ensure human health protection of Chinese farmers. The MEP-GAC have adopted 10^?6 as the acceptable lifetime cancer risk, given the widespread extent and severe level of land contamination in China, consideration should be given to the decision on excess lifetime cancer risk of 10^?5. During risk assessment process in practice, it is better to review the 20% TDI against local circumstances to determine their suitability before adopting it. The MEP-GAC are based on a SOM value of 1%, for regions with particularly high SOM, it might be necessary to develop regional GAC, due to SOM’s significant impact on the GAC developed. An authoritative risk assessment model developed based on HJ25.3-2014 would help facilitate the DQRA process in practice. The MEP-GAC could better reflect the likely exposures of China’s citizens due to vapour inhalation by using characteristics of Chinese exposure scenarios, including China-generic building stock, as inputs into the Johnson and Ettinger model as opposed to adoption of the US EPA parameters. The MEP-GAC once implemented will set the trajectory for the development of the investigation, assessment and remediation of land contamination for years.     

Influence of eco-innovation on Indian manufacturing sector sustainable performance

Manufacturing firms are striving to improve their sustainable performance in order to satisfy multiple stakeholders. Eco-innovation is a promising approach that decreases environmental impact and helps firms to increase their business value. There are several antecedents which help the firms to innovate and improve their triple bottom line performance. Among the antecedents, management and innovative practices are directly related to eco-innovation. It is not well known what practices and innovations help the firms to eco-innovate as well as to improve sustainable performance. Hence, the research objective of this paper is to identify the suitable combination of management and innovative practices that help firms to eco-innovate as well as to achieve overall sustainable performance. The paper develops an eco-innovation conceptual model which relates the management and innovative practices (antecedents) and overall sustainable performance (consequences) of eco-innovation using institutional theory. Using Indian manufacturing sector’s empirical data and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach, this paper determines the effect of eco-innovation’s antecedents and consequences. In the Indian context, this study suggests that the role of management practice is more significant towards eco-innovation than innovative practices. The results reflect practitioners’ view on how to increase innovation rate and to focus more on social aspects. The finding suggests that training on environmental related practices could tackle innovation and social aspects in the Indian manufacturing sector context.     

Uncovering the evolution of tin use in the United States and its implications

• US tin use decreases as the GDP value added by manufacturing sector increases. • Global and China’s tin use increases as the GDP added by manufacturing increases. • A sigmoid curve can fit the US tin use data well. • US tin use patterns is not due to the finite tin reserves or resources. • Policies, substitutions, etc. play key roles in the changing tin use patterns. Tin is of key importance to daily life and national security; it is considered an essential industrial metal. The United States (US) is the world’s largest economy and consumer of natural resources. Therefore, the analysis of historical tin use in the US is helpful for understanding future tin use trends in the world as a whole and in developing countries. Time series analysis, regression analysis with GDP or GDP/capita, and historical data fitted with logistic and Gompertz models are employed in this study. Historical tin use in the US shows three stages—increase-constant-decrease, as GDP per capita has increased. Tin use in the US is negatively correlated with the GDP value added by the manufacturing sector, while the use of tin worldwide and in China continues to increase along with the GDP value added by the manufacturing sector. Although a sigmoid curve can fit the US tin use data well, that use is not directly related to the limited tin reserves or resources. Rather, policies, economic restructuring, substitutions, new end-use markets, etc. have played key roles in the changing tin use patterns. This work contributes to understanding future tin use at both the global and national levels: tin use will continue to increase with GDP at the global level, but use patterns of tin at the national level can be changed through human intervention.     

Behavioral responses to echolocation calls from sympatric heterospecific bats: implications for interspecific competition

Mutual recognition is the product of species coexistence, and has direct effects on survival and reproduction of animals. Bats are able to discriminate between sympatric different heterospecifics based on their echolocation calls, which has been shown both in free-flying and captive bats. To date, however, the factors that may determine the behavioral responses of bats to echolocation calls from sympatric heterospecifics have rarely been tested, especially under well-controlled conditions in captive bats. Hence, we aimed at tackling this question by performing playback experiments (habituation–dishabituation) with three horseshoe bat species within the constant-frequency bat guild, which included big-eared horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus macrotis), Blyth’s horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus lepidus), and Chinese horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus sinicus). We studied the behavioral responses of these three species to echolocation calls of conspecifics, to other two species, and to another heterospecifics bat, Stoliczka’s trident bat (Asellisus stoliczkanus), which also belongs to this guild. We found that the three rhinolophid species displayed a series of distinct behaviors to heterospecific echolocation but few to conspecific calls after habituation, suggesting that they may have been able to discriminate sympatric heterospecific echolocation calls from those of conspecifics. Interestingly, the behavioral responses to heterospecific calls were positively correlated with the interspecific overlap index in trophic niche, whereas call design had only a minor effect. This implies that the behavioral responses of these bats to heterospecific echolocation calls may be related to the degree of interspecific food competition.     

Prioritising development planning in the Indian semi-arid Deccan using sustainable livelihood security index approach

This paper presents the status of sustainable livelihood security index (SLSI) of Karnataka, the most drought prone state in the Southern part of India. Computation of ecological security index, economic efficiency index and social equity index, and finally SLSI were carried out at the district level for the entire state, using empirical data. The selected indicators were first normalised, and then using estimated weights, indices were computed. The results indicate that the state has a very low SLSI with only 27.6% of total geographical area (TGA) and 21.7% of population being placed in the ‘sustainable’ and ‘highly sustainable’ categories (covering 10 districts) while only 34% of the TGA covering six districts falls in the ‘moderately sustainable’ category. The remaining area, confined mostly to the northern parts of the state, comprising 14 districts (51.8% of the state’s TGA) is categorised as ‘less sustainable’ and ‘very less sustainable’ exposing 44.4% (27.14 million) of state’s population to the perils of uncertain rainfall, high soil erosion rates, high social inequality and poor resource use efficiency. There is an urgent need to reorient development programmes and prioritise development investments in these vulnerable districts so that they are provided resources and opportunities to improve their ecological (more forest cover and less soil erosion), economic (higher agricultural productivity) and social (improved health and education facilities and rural infrastructure) status and achieve sustainable levels of livelihood.     

On the use of nearest neighbor contingency tables for testing spatial segregation

For two or more classes (or types) of points, nearest neighbor contingency tables (NNCTs) are constructed using nearest neighbor (NN) frequencies and are used in testing spatial segregation of the classes. Pielou’s test of independence, Dixon’s cell-specific, class-specific, and overall tests are the tests based on NNCTs (i.e., they are NNCT-tests). These tests are designed and intended for use under the null pattern of random labeling (RL) of completely mapped data. However, it has been shown that Pielou’s test is not appropriate for testing segregation against the RL pattern while Dixon’s tests are. In this article, we compare Pielou’s and Dixon’s NNCT-tests; introduce the one-sided versions of Pielou’s test; extend the use of NNCT-tests for testing complete spatial randomness (CSR) of points from two or more classes (which is called CSR independence, henceforth). We assess the finite sample performance of the tests by an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study and demonstrate that Dixon’s tests are also appropriate for testing CSR independence; but Pielou’s test and the corresponding one-sided versions are liberal for testing CSR independence or RL. Furthermore, we show that Pielou’s tests are only appropriate when the NNCT is based on a random sample of (base, NN) pairs. We also prove the consistency of the tests under their appropriate null hypotheses. Moreover, we investigate the edge (or boundary) effects on the NNCT-tests and compare the buffer zone and toroidal edge correction methods for these tests. We illustrate the tests on a real life and an artificial data set.     

China's dairy crisis: impacts,causes and policy implications for a sustainable dairy industry

The dairy industry is an important part of the global economy, and the rapidly developing dairy enterprises in China have become increasingly important to the rest of the world. Due to increasing demand for dairy products and support from the government, China's dairy industry has thrived in recent decades. But rapid growth has been accompanied by a suite of industry/structural problems associated with raw milk supply, processing enterprises, product retailing and profit allocation. Thus, a major dairy crisis took place in 2008, triggered by a notorious melamine-contaminated milk event. The dairy crisis has had devastating impacts on China's dairy industry, negatively affecting farmers, consumers, processing enterprises and even government agencies. The Chinese government has developed rigorous measures to prevent future incidents of this sort, including the enactment of the Food Safety Law and reinstatement of the no-exemption quality inspection of food products. In this paper, we analyse the wide-ranging impacts and root causes of the recent dairy crisis in China. We also examine how the crisis has been handled and what measures have been put in place in its aftermath. Then we discuss policy implications for promoting the sustainability of China's dairy industry. Lessons learned from this crisis, as well as implications for policy improvements, should be valuable for the development of a sustainable dairy industry in other regions of the world.     

悬浮填料生物膜工艺的研究进展

悬浮填料生物膜工艺又称为移动床生物膜反应器工艺，是上世纪90年代初迅猛发展起来的一种新型水处理工艺．它既可以作为独立的生物处理系统，也能够与活性污泥法组合以增加后者的处理效能，还可以作为中高浓度工业废水的生物预处理手段．本文总结了悬浮填料生物膜工艺的流体力学、生化动力学规律、悬浮填料的开发现状，探讨了此工艺在市政生活污水、工业废水、低污染物浓度的水处理领域的研究和应用进展．进一步开发高效、廉价的功能型悬浮填料，提高填料的有效比表面积，优化与确定工艺和运行参数，将推动悬浮填料生物膜工艺在我国的全面应用．图3表1参64     

Recent advances in membrane bioreactor technology for wastewater treatment in China

Since the introduction of the membrane bioreactor (MBR) in China in the early 1990s, remarkable progress has been achieved on the research and application of this technology. China has now become one of the most active fields in the world in this regard. This review outlines the development of MBR-based processes in China and their performance of treating municipal and industrial wastewaters. Since membrane fouling is a critical operational problem with MBR processes, this paper also proposes updated understanding of fouling mechanisms and strategies of fouling control, which are mainly compiled from publications of Chinese researchers. As for the commercial application of MBR in the country, the latest statistics of large-scale MBR plants (>10000 m³·d⁻¹) are provided, and the growth trend of total treatment capacity as well as its driving force is analyzed.     

Net primary production of Chinese croplands from 1950 to 1999.

Considerable efforts have been made to assess the contribution of forest and grassland ecosystems to the global carbon budget, while less attention has been paid to agriculture. Net primary production (NPP) of Chinese croplands and driving factors are seldom taken into account in the regional carbon budget. We studied crop NPP by analyzing the documented crop yields from 1950 to 1999 on a provincial scale. Total NPP, including estimates of the aboveground and belowground components, was calculated from harvested yield data by (1) conversion from economic yield of the crop to aboveground mass using the ratio of aboveground residue production to the economic yield, (2) estimation of belowground mass as a function of aboveground mass, and (3) conversion from total dry mass to carbon mass. This approach was applied to 13 crops, representing 86.8% of the total harvested acreage of crops in China. Our results indicated that NPP in Chinese croplands increased markedly during this period. Averaging for each decade, the amount of NPP was 146 +/- 32, 159 +/- 34, 260 +/- 55, 394 +/- 85, and 513 +/- 111 Tg C/yr (mean +/- SD) in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, respectively. This increase may be attributed to synthetic fertilizer application. A further investigation indicated that the climate parameters of temperature and precipitation determined the spatial variability in NPP. Spatiotemporal variability in NPP can be well described by the consumption of synthetic fertilizer and by climate parameters. In addition, the total amount of residue C and root C retained by the soils was estimated to be 618 Tg, with a range from 300 to 1040 Tg over the 50 years.     

Municipal wastewater treatment in China: Development history and future perspectives

The history of China’s municipal wastewater management is revisited. The remaining challenges in wastewater sector in China are identified. New concept municipal wastewater treatment plants are highlighted. An integrated plant of energy, water and fertilizer recovery is envisaged. China has the world’s largest and still growing wastewater sector and water market, thus its future development will have profound influence on the world. The high-speed development of China’s wastewater sector over the past 40 years has forged its global leading treatment capacity and innovation ability. However, many problems were left behind, including underdeveloped sewers and sludge disposal facilities, low sustainability of the treatment processes, questionable wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent discharge standards, and lacking global thinking on harmonious development between wastewater management, human society and the nature. Addressing these challenges calls for fundamental changes in target design, policy and technologies. In this mini-review, we revisit the development history of China’s municipal wastewater management and identify the remaining challenges. Also, we highlight the future needs of sustainable development and exploring China’s own wastewater management path, and outlook the future from several aspects including targets of wastewater management, policies and technologies, especially the new concept WWTP. Furthermore, we envisage the establishment of new-generation WWTPs with the vision of turning WWTP from a site of pollutant removal into a plant of energy, water and fertilizer recovery and an integrated part urban ecology in China.     

Ecological footprint and biological capacity time series assessment for a forest region in northeastern China

Anthropogenic disturbances have caused major landscape changes in the forests of northeastern China during the past 50 years. In particular, continuous over-deforestation has greatly decreased the region's forest quality. Ecological footprint analysis generates aggregated information about a population's demand on nature and the population regional biological capacity. To show the forest change and the population's ecological demand on the study area, this paper presents an ecological footprint time series for the Songling Forestry Bureau in northeastern China from 1965 to 2000. The paper shows conventional ecological footprint time series and area demand time series – under global, Chinese and local yearly yields – to study the biological productivity of Songling. In this study, biological capacity was calculated based on a conventional approach. The results demonstrate that the ecological footprint has increased slightly and continuously during the 35-year timespan, while the biological capacity has decreased dramatically. These effects have been caused mainly by the depletion of forest resources. The results also yield much information about natural changes and socioeconomic dynamics, as well as the driving factors for these changes, of which the most important is forest management policy.     

中国碳排放权交易市场运行状况、问题和对策研究

排污权交易理论的提出解决了发展经济与治理环境不能并行的难题。以欧盟碳排权交易体系为标志的世界范围内的碳排放权交易市场已逐步形成,碳排放权交易的实施减缓了全球气候变暖的速度,改善了人类赖以生存的生态环境,从长期看也促进了该政策实施地经济的发展。CDM机制下拥有世界上最大碳供应量的中国在国际碳排放权交易市场上却一直处于价格接受者的地位,辛苦的减排成果却给国外买家创造了丰厚的利润。国内有关碳排放权交易的理论研究与交易市场的试点运行早已在前几年展开,目前也取得了较大的进展。全国7个碳交易试点运行市场在2014年6月达到了交易的高峰期,交易量达到285.9227万吨,交易额达到了16398.2325万元。另据国家发改委统计,截至2014年10月,7个碳交易试点省市共完成交易1375万吨二氧化碳,累计成交金额超过5亿元人民币。然而这样的交易额对蕴含巨大减排潜力的中国而言远远不足,中国的碳排放权交易市场还不够成熟,试点地区的碳交易市场也比较分散,尚未形成全国统一的排放权交易市场。碳排放企业参与碳交易市场的积极性不足,导致碳排放配额流动性过低,市场交易量较低,交易市场的活跃度不够,这对想要在2016年运行全国统一性碳排放权交易市场的中国来说是一重大挑战。文章首先分析对比了国内外排污权交易市场的运行机制与现状,其次对目前中国7大碳排放交易试点地区的市场成交额与成交量等交易状况基础进行分析,找出碳排放交易市场发展缓慢的根本原因,结合碳排放权金融市场的发展与碳金融衍生产品的创新,为中国在国际排放权市场上赢得话语权以及争取是“十三五”期间构建相对成熟稳定的国内排放权交易市场的给出建议。     

The widening urbanization gap between the Three Northeast Provinces and the Yangtze River Delta under China’s economic reform from 1984 to 2014

Urbanization has created a significant gap between the Three Northeast Provinces (TNP) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) since China’s reform and opening-up. In this study, we explain this problem by employing an urban expansion index, spatial hierarchical clustering, the Zipf-PLE model, fractal theory, and time-series analysis. Statistical data on the built-up area, population, and gross domestic product were downloaded from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. The results revealed the following. (1) During the stage of the planned economy, as a result of the significant government investment in development, the urban built-up areas in the TNP and the YRD reached 1867 and 757 km², respectively, in 1984. (2) During the stage of the socialist market economy, the urban built-up area of the YRD experienced rapid growth over the 30 years from 1984 to 2014 with a rate of increase of 668.8%, which was higher than that of the TNP (139.9%). In 2014, the urban built-up areas of the TNP and the YRD were 4479 and 5820 km², respectively. (3) Locational advantages had significant effects on urban development after China’s economic reform. The coastal cities of the YRD had higher rates of increase of the built-up areas. By contrast, the border cities of the TNP had lower rates of increase. Finally, this paper finds that the socialist market economy exhibited more efficiency in promoting urban expansion and economic development. The results are significant for generating balanced and sustainable regional development strategies in the future.     

中国家庭消费的生态影响——以家庭生活用电为例

中国生活部门能源消费占能源消费总量的12％，以电能消费为例，用生命周期方法计算了中国家庭1985年和1998年因生活用电而间接产生的CO2、SOx和烟尘的排放。结果发现，与1985年相比，1998年3种污染物的排放量对全国的贡献率分别增加了5．06％，5．16％和3．57％。说明在中国开展家庭消费生态影响研究的重要意义。