Energy policy implications of waste management in various sectors of the economy—An analysis based on physical systems theory

This paper aims to bring into focus the impact of waste management in different sectors of the economy on some important policy issues related to energy. In a multi-sector economy, the total energy demand consists of the direct energy demand of human population, the intermediate demand of other sectors and the energy wastes which cannot be recycled and have to be rejected to nature. These sectorial interlinkages in the economy, due to their cascading effects, are very important for studying the real impact of waste generation or waste recycling on the energy demand and prices. A generalized multi-sector economy model which combines the concepts of input-output economics with waste management (input-output-waste model) has been developed based on physical systems theory. The results of sensitivity analysis of this model are presented in this paper, which suggest the need to have a serious look into waste management practices in all sectors of the economy from an energy policy point of view.