Characterization of industrial hazardous waste generation in South Korea using input-output approach

The industrial hazardous waste (IHW) regulation has been highlighted by the Basel Convention, and the South Korean government has announced a plan for the great transition to resource circulation in 2020 to strengthen waste management. Accordingly, South Korea is faced with the challenge of efficiently managing IHW at the national level. For this, research to understand national IHW generation characteristics considering economic activities should be prioritized, but there have been few studies on this. As a first try, this paper aimed to compile the waste extended input-output table for IHW in South Korea for a systematic evaluation of waste generation from the supply and demand perspectives across all economic sectors. This study developed the waste extended input-output table using the 2018 monetary input-output table and industrial sectorial IHW generation. From a supply perspective, considering direct and indirect generation, ‘Electronic and electrical equipment’, ‘Chemical’, and ‘Basic metals’ industries were identified as the top three key sectors in direct IHW generation, with the contribution to more than half of the total amount. Meanwhile, from a demand perspective, considering domestic consumption, investment and exports, domestic consumption contributed more than 48% to the IHW generation. In comparison, net exports contributed about 15%, despite the total output from net exports being only about 6%, implying that scientific regulations and improvements in IHW management from the demand perspective are also required. The results provide insightful policy recommendations for establishing IHW management reflecting the characteristics of industrial waste generation in the national economic system.