Constructing a Baseline Input-Output Model with Environmental Accounts (IOEA)

This paper reports our efforts to develop a baseline input-output model with environmental accounts for use in developing geographically specific e-waste recycling systems. We addressed the conceptual and practical issues that occurred when the recyclable end-of-life commodities and related activities were incorporated in the traditional input-output model: 1) existing industry and commodity accounts do not represent recycling activities and recyclable end-of-life products explicitly; 2) flows of end-of-life products are mainly observed in physical volume; 3) the price of end-of-life products is not unique in their transactions in general. Because of these issues, transactions of end-of-life products are not easily incorporated within the input-output framework. We provide a way to record transactions of end-of-life products in both physical and monetary terms in the input-output model with environmental accounts. Particularly, we presented a case of e-waste recycling for the Atlanta Metropolitan Area with a hypothetical scenario.