“What effect reduces plastic waste most? The case of Japanese manufacturing”（February 9）
Organizer
Waseda Institute for Advanced Study (WIAS), Waseda University
Co-organizer
Research Institute for Environmental Economics and Management, Waseda University
WINPEC Renewable Energy Project, Waseda University
Speaker
Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Toyama
Professor, Vice Director, Center for Far Eastern Studies, University of Toyama
After working at a private research institute in Tokyo, Professor Yamamoto completed his Ph.D. in Economics at Keio University in 2008. His major research interest is environmental and resource economics especially in the eld of waste management and recycling.
Professor Yamamoto’s work has been published in academic journals including Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Resource and Energy Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics and Science of the Total Environment. He is also a co-editor of a book, Economics of Waste Management in East Asia (Routledge, 2016).
Professor Yamamoto has been committed to real world’s policy making process through his work in numerous government committees to revise recycling laws in Japan. He is also an expert member of Technical Committee 323 (circular economy) in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Moderator
Professor, School of Political Science and Economics, Director, WIAS
Date & Time
Tuesday, 9 February 2021, 16:00 – 17:30
Venue
This seminar will be held online by Zoom.
Language
English
Outline
In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to plastic waste, but in most cases, only household plastic waste has received attention. Knowing that the amount of plastic waste from households and that from manufacturing are almost the same in Japan, we focus on the change in plastic waste emissions from manufacturing from 2004 to 2018.
Following the novel method of Levinson (2015, JAERE), we decompose the emissions of plastic waste into scale effects, composition effects and (in)direct technique effects. This first application of the method in waste generation shows that the composition effect has very limited contribution to the decrease of plastic waste, if not increased pollution emissions. The result in our analysis is rather similar to Brunel (2017, ERE) and Cole and Zhang (2019, Econ. Letts.) although their targets are CO2 and air pollution in EU and China.
Before presenting my original research above, I would like to compare some key indicators in waste and recycling among OECD countries and explain the characteristics of Japanese version of circular economy in contrast to European Union’s.
Prospected Audience
Faculty members of university, graduate students
Registration
Please send an e-mail titled “Feb. 9th WIAS Sustainability Seminar” including your name and affiliation to rieem.waseda [at] gmail.com by February 5 (Fri).
You will receive a reply mail by February 8 (Mon) with registration URL.
