1. Case Study on the Efficiency of Recycling Companies’ Waste Paper Collection Stations in Japan
- Author
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Xiaoyue Liu, Toshiaki Aoki, Kazuaki Okubo, Jeongsoo Yu, and Masahiro Sato
- Subjects
Government ,2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Environmental effects of industries and plants ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,Geography, Planning and Development ,TJ807-830 ,Waste paper ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Environmental economics ,collection station ,Collection system ,TD194-195 ,Renewable energy sources ,Environmental sciences ,Business hours ,Japan ,efficiency ,recycling company ,GE1-350 ,Business ,waste paper - Abstract
Each year, a large amount of waste paper (WP) is generated in Japan, and due to the change in lifestyle with the COVID-19 pandemic, the WP collection and recycling system in Japan faces new challenges. Although the government of Japan has installed WP collection systems, the efficiency of these traditional WP collection systems is too low, and this causes inconvenience to the governments, residents, and other stakeholders. On the other hand, some recycling companies in Japan are trying to establish a nontraditional WP collection system by setting their own WP collection stations in cooperative supermarkets. Yet, the efficiency of this new system has not been clarified. This research aims to investigate the current status, operational characteristics, and the role of recycling companies’ WP collection stations in the Japanese WP collection system. By performing trade area analysis and stepwise OLS regression, this research will evaluate WP collection stations’ efficiency. Moreover, this research will also discuss how the new WP collection system improves WP collection efficiency and residents’ convenience. The results show that WP collection stations efficiency is particularly high in large supermarkets with many parking spaces and long business hours, as well as in areas with many families with children. Recycling companies’ WP collection system could create a system, which can satisfy resident, government, and recycling company interests at the same time.
- Published
- 2021