1. © Peter Dicken 2015

2. ‘Destroying Value’? Environmental Impacts of Global Production Networks
Global Shift
Chapter 9

3. Review Concepts to Review Key Words
GPNs, value creation, exploitation, uneven globalization
Key Words
Environment, sustainability, municipal solid waste, e-waste, waste trading

4. Environmental Degradation
Impact of Production on the Environment
Production can destroy as well as create value: ecology notes
Is economy and society sustainable? Possibly not.
Issues of balance, and this balance is disrupted by human action
Climate Change
Human-induced climate change is dominant
Association between rising CO2 levels and growth of modern industry
How to measure carbon emissions?
Consumption versus production perspectives on CO2 emissions
Atmospheric damage by other industrial processes
Role of ships in pollution
The world’s major cities are also major pollution loci

5. Social Impacts
Developing countries particularly lose out; most of their production is for export, and so their carbon use is for the benefit of others
Double exposure: cases where a particular area or group is confronted both by impacts of climate change and globalization
Sectoral and national effects
‘Among the most vulnerable social groups affected by double exposure are the poor residents of cities in both the developed and developing worlds’
Different sets of winners and losers from globalization emerge when economic globalization and environmental change are considered

6. Concept of Waste
Distinguishing between waste and useful materials is far from straightforward
Waste is better seen as unintended consequences of material transformations
Many countries do not report waste, or do so inconsistently
Hazardous wastes are particularly problematic: these are wastes which have ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity and/or toxicity
Mineral extraction is a significant creator of waste
New industries also produce waste (‘e-waste’): only about 50 per cent of a computer is recycled
Throwaway consumer society creates a lot of municipal solid waste (MSW)

7. Waste Management Recycling: Sustainable Waste Management?
Waste almost always has potential to become a valued material
All countries have some kind of waste recycling strategy
Recycling forms basis of new business and industries; value is recreated
Economics of recycling are volatile
Recycling has significant environmental benefits
Recycling as the recreation of value?
The Economics of Waste Management
Global shift in waste: relocation of waste on an international scale
‘Pollution havens’
Safety and environmental management
TNCs often criticized as adopting less stringent safety practices in developing world
Most waste trading between developed countries
Little waste is actually traded; however, most of what is traded is hazardous
‘Reverse trade’: trading away unwanted goods rather than trading for wanted ones