| Title |
The price of byproducts: Distinguishing co-products from waste using the rectangular choice-of-technologies model |
| ID_Doc |
23729 |
| Authors |
Springer, NP; Schmitt, J |
| Title |
The price of byproducts: Distinguishing co-products from waste using the rectangular choice-of-technologies model |
| Year |
2018 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.07.034 |
| Abstract |
The reuse or sale of byproducts is widespread throughout the global economy. Such byproducts are deemed co-products, while unused byproducts are considered waste. This distinction becomes less clear for waste products that can be turned into useable co-products, creating methodological problems for those studying reuse of byproducts using life cycle assessment, material flow analysis, and input-output analysis. Expanding upon the Rectangular Choice-of-Technologies (RCOT) framework (Duchin and Levine, 2011), this paper presents an approach for associating byproducts from the production process of a primary commodity with a distinct technology. This new RCOT method endogenously defines byproducts as co-products or waste depending on the technological and economic capacity to utilize them. By comparing the prices of utilized co-products to unused wastes, this framework provides an explicit way to relate these three concepts while also illustrating how changing economic conditions can change wastes into co-products, and vice-versa. We present a numerical example of this new method for distiller's grains byproducts from ethanol production. |
| Author Keywords |
Food and agricultural waste; Life-cycle analysis; Input-output analysis; Livestock feed; Rectangular choice-of-technology; Circular economy |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000444789400023 |
| WoS Category |
Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences |
| Research Area |
Engineering; Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
| PDF |
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