An Analytical Study on the Resource Recycling Potentials of Urban and Rural Domestic Waste in China

The total wet-basis weight of urban and rural domestic waste in China is about 500,000,000 tons every year, 60% of which comes from dry-basis waste (about 300,000,000 tons). Single-composition, clean waste that is separated on a dry basis, especially the low-value components such as food waste and plastics, has huge resource recycling potentials. The potential added values from resource recycling of the 500,000,000 tons of urban and rural domestic waste would be around RMB 926.17 billion, RMB 1,065.98 billion and RMB 1,205.81 billion upon three prices of granulated organic-inorganic compound fertilizers. A potential value of RMB 1,065.98 billion, for instance, would be 2.26% of China's 2011 GDP (RMB 47.1564 trillion), which may make resource recycling of domestic waste one of the large industries. Resource recycling of domestic waste is a major energy-saving and environment-friendly strategic emerging industry in China, and a prioritized management strategy for resource recycling of domestic waste should be established for the maximum resource recycling.