Studies on Resource Recovery and Comprehensive Waste Treatment System (Report No.3)

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the main economical barriers in implementing resource recovery systems of solid waste within the market.
Generally speaking, there are two types of barriers technical and economical. Economical, especially, institutional barriers may be more essential than the technical ones judging from the fact that the present structure of industries is fitted to the use of virgin raw and not recoverd materials.
The economic success of a recovery system depends on continuing and stable revenues derived from selling the products made from recoverd materials. Marketing barriers are related not only to the cost of the products but also the other problems hidden behind the market price. We make these hidden problems clear by showing many practical examples and by clustering these problems into two groups:
(A) barriers related to the competition principle of the market structure, and
(B) barriers related to the characteristic of solid waste.
As a result, it is shown that both nonmarket mechanical means and reformation of the current economic structure are necessary in order to comprehensively promote the resource recovery.