Examining the nature and structure of a local pollutant: An illustrative case of physical waste generation in Scotland using environmental input-output accounting methods

This paper explores how the environmental input-output model can be applied to consider the fundamental aspects of physical waste problems in Scotland. In particular, we consider how IO multiplier methods may be used to develop an understanding of demand drivers of a local pollutant (taking physical waste as an example). This is with the aim to demonstrate how environmental IO Type I multipliers (incorporating direct and indirect, or inter-industry, effects) may be used to describe and communicate key elements of local pollution impacts. As a first step, we calculate the amount of waste directly generated in different production activities in Scotland under what is commonly referred to as a ‘production based principle’. We also attribute total waste generated in production to the different types of final consumers, whose demand for particular output directly or indirectly may be attributed as driving this waste generation. More generally, we consider how this approach may be used as a basis for the home region dimension of a footprint analysis based on a partial ‘consumption accounting principle’. We argue that employing IO methods in this way can provide information that may prove useful if regional policy makers attempt to consider waste reduction through consumption-focussed polices as well as production-based ones.