Waste Input-Output  (WIO) Table

A Wikpedia article on WIO has become available

What is WIO?

Any economic activity generates waste of some sort. The WIO table is an extended Input-Output (IO) table representing the interdependence between the flow of goods and the flow of wastes. The following figure shows a prototype of the WIO table, which consists of five production sectors (mining, energy, materials, parts, and product), three waste treatment sectors (separation and shredding, incineration, and landfill), and six waste types (waste containers, discarded appliances, metal scraps, dust, sludge, and ash). In the figure,\(X_{ij}\) indicates the flow of goods, while \(W_{ij}\) indicates the flow of wastes. The activity of the waste treatment sectors is to transform waste feedstock into different types of waste. The flow in the "waste times waste treatment '' block represents this transformation..  

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WIO as an accounting system

From the point of view of accounting system, WIO can be seen as a variant of NAMEA. A distinguishing feature of WIO consists in its detailed description of waste stream and waste management. Furthermore, we have also developed an accompanying analytical model called WIO model that can be used as a hybrid LCA tool of waste management. For details of the WIO model, see below.

WIO adopted as a format for an official statistic of Japan

WIO has been adopted as the format for recording the flow of waste among production-, consumption-, and waste management sectors, involving generation, treatment, recycling, and final disposal, in the Input-Output Tables for Analysis of Environmental Fields (E-IO), an official statistic of Japan, the preparation of which was approved by the cabinet in March 2009. E-IO has henceforth being developed under the initiative of Ministry of the Environment (MOE) in cooperation with Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

Download and use WIO Tabl

Please read the "Readme" sheet before using the WIO tables. 

WIO and LCA

The waste input-output (WIO) is a hybrid methodology of LCA that is capable of taking into account all the phases of life-cycle, production, use, and End of Life (EoL). Exclusion of the EoL phase used to be mentioned as a limitation of IO Analysis (IOA) for LCA (while the conventional IOA does not cover the use phase as well, its incorporation is rather straightforward). It, however, does not apply to the WIO because of its explicit consideration of the flow of waste and waste management activities including waste recycling. The WIO corresponds to LCA based hybrid analysis, where the technology matrix of a product system in LCA (in particular the foreground processes that refer to waste management and recycling) is fully integrated with technical coefficients matrix of an economy (the background processes that refer to the traditional flow of goods and services) in IOA..

Related Publications

  1. Nakamura, S. (2020). Tracking the Product Origins of Waste for Treatment Using the WIO Data Developed by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment. Environmental Science & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c06015. Open access.
  2. Nakamura, Shinichiro, and Keisuke Nansai. "Input-Output and Hybrid LCA." Special Types of Life Cycle Assessment. Springer Netherlands, 2016. 219-291 ISBN: 978-94-017-7608-0 (Print) 978-94-017-7610-3 (Online)
  3. Makiko Tsukui, Shigemi Kagawa, andYasushi Kondo; Measuring the waste footprint of cities in Japan: an interregional waste input-output analysis. : Journal of Economic Structures 4, 2015 1-24
  4. Meng-I. Liao, Pi-cheng Chen, Hwong-wen Ma, Shinichiro Nakamura; Identification of the driving force of waste generation using a high-resolution waste input-output table, Journal of Cleaner Production, 94, 294-303, 2015, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.02.002
  5. Manfred Lenzen and Christian John Reynolds: A Supply-Use Approach to Waste Input-Output Analysis, Journal of Industrial Ecology Volume 18, Issue 2, pages 212-226, April 2014, DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12105. Extension of WIO within the supply and use framework.
  6. Kenichi NAKAJIMA, Keisuke NANSAI, Kazuyo MATSUBAE, Yasushi KONDO, Shigemi KAGAWA, Rokuta INABA, Shinichiro NAKAMURA, and Tetsuya NAGASAKA, Identifying the Substance Flow of Metals Embedded in Japanese International Trade by Use of WIO-MFA Model, ISIJ International, Vol. 51, No. 11, 1934-1939, 2011.
  7. S. Nakamura, K. Nakajima, Y. Yoshizawa, K. Matsubae-Yokoyama, T. Nagasaka: Material Flow Analysis of Polyvinyl Chloride in Japan based on the WIO-MFA Model, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Special issue on Applications of Material Flow Analysis13 (5), 706-717, 2009
  8. Chen Lin, Hybrid Input-output Analysis of Wastewater Treatment and Environmental Impacts: A Case Study for the Tokyo Metropolis. Ecological Economics 68(7): 2096-2105, 2009. The extension of WIO to waste water and its  treatment. A WIO (Waste Water IO) is proposed.
  9. S. Nakamura and Y. Kondo: Waste Input-Output Analysis: Concepts and Application to Industrial Ecology, Springer 2009.
  10. S Nakamura, S Murakami, K Nakajima, T Nagasaka: Hybrid input-output approach to metal production and its application to the introduction of lead-free solders, Environmental Science & Technology, 42 (10) 3843-3848 (2008
  11. S Kagawa, S Nakamura, H Inamura, and M Yamada: Measuring spatial repercussion effects of regional waste management, Resources, Conservation and Recycling 51 (2007) 141–174
  12. TAKASE, Koji, Yasushi KONDO, and Ayu WASHIZU, "An Analysis of Sustainable Consumption by the Waste Input-Output Model," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 9, No. 1-2 (Winter/Spring 2005) pp.201-219 The first application of WIO to issues of sustainable consumption.
  13. S. Nakamura and K. Nakajima: Waste Input-Output Material Flow Analysis of Metals in the Japanese Economy, Materials Transactions 46-12, 2550-2553, 2005. 
    This paper develops a theoretical model of material flow analysis (MFA) within the framework of the Waste Input-Output model (WIO). Application to the Japanese IO data indicates that the model can provide accurate estimates of the weight as well as the composition of metals (Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Al) used in a passenger car. The model is also used to estimate the major final use categories (household consumption, public consumption, capital investment, inventory investment, and export) of metals.
  14. Y. Kondo and S. Nakamura: Evaluating Alternative Life-Cycle Strategies for Electrical Appliances by the Waste Input-Output Model, International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 9 (4), 236-246, 2004.
    In April 2001, a new law on the recycling of end of use electrical home appliances (EL-EHA) was put into effect in Japan. Under the law, the manufacturers and importers of  four types of EHA (TV, air-conditioner, refrigerator, and washing machine) are obliged to re-commercialize up to 60% of the components of EL-EHA. Effects of this law on the emission of carbon dioxide and the demand for landfill consumption were evaluated by use of the WIO model. It was found that the intensive recycling prescribed by the law is effective in reducing these loading factors, and that the result is robust to wide ranging variations in transport distances.
  15. S. Nakamura and Y. Kondo: A waste input–output life-cycle cost analysis of the recycling of end-of-life electrical home appliances, Ecological Economics, in press.
    This paper presents the cost- and price counterpart of WIO, and applies it to a LCC of alternative strategies for EL-EHA.
  16. S. Nakamura and Y. Kondo: Input Output Analysis of  Waste Management, Journal of Industrial Ecology Vol. 6, No.1, 2002, pp.39-64. This paper shows the theoretical structure of the WIO in its relationships to the conventional environmental IO model, describes the structure of WIO by use of an aggregated real WIO table for Japan, and shows LCA results of alternative waste management scenarios with regard to concentrated treatment and sorting of waste. 
  17. Input-Output Analysis of Waste Cycles  EcoDesign 99, Proceedings, 1999
    This paper presented the Waste Input-Output (WIO) Model for the first time. The model was implemented for a municipality in Hokkaido, Japan, and used for evaluating alternative waste treatment options such as incineration, RDF, and landfilling.
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