Regional Circular Economic Development Assessment based on MFA and AHP:A Case Study of Jiangsu Province,China

Circular economy(CE)is actually a sort of ecological economy because it requires applying the rules of ecology instead of mechanism to guide human economic activities.Maximization of efficiency and benefit in resource use is required by circular economy,which is very important to construct a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society and realize sustainable development.The assessment of regional circular economy and its indicators system must follow this basic principle.The leading method of material flow analysis(MFA)provides a methodologically effective decision-support tool for resource,waste and environmental management as well as a new research approach for regional circular economy assessment.Based on expounding MFA,its indicators and the3R(reduce,reuse and recycle)principle,analytic hierarchy process(AHP)was used to construct the assessment index system,weights system and the assessment index grading standards of regional circular economy,which were suitable for local ecological economic system.Jiangsu province of China was selected as studied area for us to draft the regional circular economic judgment model.The status of regional circular economy in Jiangsu was analyzed and evaluated based on a series of analysis.The results showed that:1)the reduce index of circular economy in the studied area was in grade II for most of the period,that was in the middle-circular state,and reduced slightly in the later period;2)the reuse index of circular economy was the lowest in the beginning but rose fastest and even reached grade I at last;3)the recycle index of circular economy presented the parabola trend basically and was in grade II in the first half phase;4)The comprehensive index of circular economy in the studied area presented a rising trend and reached grade II.The three sub-indicators are ranked as:reductionrecycling reusing in the early stage and reusingrecyclingreduction in the later stage;5)Based on the assessment results of all indexes,the resource conservation and productivity,reuse and treating rates of wastes were the weakest points of all indexes.In this paper,the problems existing in the assessment indicators system of circular economy were analyzed,the development of regional circular economy was prospected,and a new study approach for regional circular economy and sustainable development was reached.