Co-evolutionary simulation study of multiple stakeholders in the take-out waste recycling industry chain

Take-out waste causes severe environmental pollution and wastes resources; thus, recycling of take-out waste is an urgent problem that must be addressed. From the co-evolutionary viewpoint, we used evolutionary game theory to build a tripartite game model involving government, consumers and enterprises, and then made simulation analysis using Vensim® software, exploring the evolutionary equilibrium and the main driving factors. The simulation results showed that (1) no matter what government's, consumers' or enterprises' initial strategy is, through imitation and evolution, the three will eventually arrive at the state in which government chooses regulation, the consumer chooses a green approach, and an enterprise chooses to participate in the recycling industry chain. (2) The consumer (government) plays a role of promoter (guide) in the evolutionary process in the take-out waste recycling industry chain. (3) The higher the regulatory costs or penalties for enterprises not participating in the recycling industry chain, and the larger the subsidy to consumers for choosing a green approach and to enterprises for participating in the recycling chain, the sooner the government will stabilize a no-regulation strategy. (4) The higher the cost of enterprise participation in the recycling chain, the later the government will arrive at the stabilization strategy. (5) The higher the penalty to an enterprise, the earlier the enterprise will evolve to the stabilization strategy; the higher the subsidy to consumers (enterprises), the earlier consumers (enterprises) will evolve into the stabilization strategy, and the higher the cost of enterprise participation, the later the enterprise will evolve into a stable strategy. This study is expected to provide a reference for governments to formulate effective waste management policies.