Estimation and prediction of the generation of waste organic solvents in China

Waste organic solvents are considered as hazardous waste in many countries. However, the generation of waste organic solvents in China has been ambiguous in recent years. In this study, the pollutant generation coefficient is first used as the estimation method of waste organic solvent generation in China. Then, the pollutant generation coefficient is combined with linear regression model used to predict the generation. Results show that the generation of waste organic solvents in China was almost 2.99 million tons in 2017. The largest generation was from the integrated circuit (IC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber industries. The two industries contributed 84.1% to the total generation. East China was the region with the largest generation where 57.8% of the total was produced. The generation of waste organic solvents was closely correlated to the economic level. The generation of waste organic solvents is predicted to be 4.15 million tons and the average annual growth rate of the generation was approximately 3.5% until 2025. Therefore, reducing the pollutant generation coefficient is important in controlling the total generation of waste organic solvents in the future. The IC and PVA fiber industries and the region of east China should be paid attention by environmental management authorities.