Environmental Impact of Scrap Steel Resource Recycling in Taiwan

Human activities have caused environmental damage which affects not just the environment but also the society and the economy. There are several innitiatives that address environmental degradation and implement the concept of sustainable development. Two of the important initiatives are Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) and Sustainable Consumption and Production(SCP). Resource recycling can reduce the use of raw materials, and is considered to be more sustainable. However, it is important to take the whole economic system into consideration while discussing recycling. The main objective of this research is by investigating resource recycling sector with Extended Input-Output analysis, which includes all production sectors, to discuss its effect on the environment in a more comprehensive way. The iron and steel industry in Taiwan serves as a case study. The analytical method includes two models, Taiwan Integrated Environmental Assessment Model (TWIEA) and Waste Input-Output model (WIO). To improve the limitation of IO, which dose not consider the interaction between the flow of products and wastes properly, the WIO model can account for waste generation in each sector more precisely and also cover the cost of each waste treatment sector. Using the recycling rate in Taiwan as a variable, this research investigates the recycling rate of iron and steel industry in Taiwan to analyze the environmental impacts in the categories of human health, eco-quality, climate change, resources, and water resources. The first part of the result shows that recycling is not always environmental friendly in order to meet the needs of an economic system but may cause environmental debts. When the recycling rate of waste iron increases in Taiwan, the impact of global climate change decreases; but the impacts of global human health, eco-quality, resources and water resources increase. The main indirect emissions which may impact ecosystems are from mining and mineral manufacturing sectors that emit sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides in foreign countries. The main indirect emissions which lead to lack of water resources are from middle-east’s crude oil exploration. The second part of the result evaluates the environmental impacts while conducting resource recycling based on the international trade data. The results show that while the crude steel consumption grows, the environmental impacts’ increase rate is lower and thus there is “relative decoupling”. The study indicates that international trading is a more effective way to decrease the impacts. Though both recycling and international trading are transition pathways which is the key to more sustainable world, there are great differences between them. The decision makers should implement a policy with a more effective transition pathway.