Inter-Sectoral Bisphenol A (BPA) Flows in the 2012 Chinese Economy

Bisphenol
A (BPA), a widely used petrochemical compound, has become
an emerging global environmental management challenge because its
leakage is associated with potential environmental and human health
impacts. Until now, available BPA statistics have been limited to
the products that directly use BPA. In this study, we delineate direct
and indirect BPA flows for the 2012 Chinese economy. We find that
construction, production of educational and recreational products,
and automobile manufacturing are the most BPA-intensive sectors in
terms of total BPA flows (300, 157, and 130 Gg total BPA flows, respectively).
The public management and health sectors, however, incur significant
indirect BPA flows, defined as embedded and inter-sectoral BPA placed
into use, even though direct BPA use by these sectors is limited.
By revealing the currently overlooked indirect BPA flows, this study
reveals data gaps that are highly relevant to improving the accuracy
of estimated BPA flows and losses. The method used herein is transferrable
to other emerging and environmentally relevant materials, thereby
providing the holistic understanding needed for cities, regions, or
nations to design effective policy interventions.