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SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS:Moving from Waste Management

to Materials Management- Overview -

Derry AllenU.S. Environmental Protection Agency

2008 Symposium on Innovating for Sustainable Results:Integrated Approaches for Energy, Climate, and the Environment

Chapel Hill, NCJanuary 9, 2008

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Major Natural Resource Systems• Air• Ecosystems• Energy• Land• Materials• Water

Materials: Getting Oriented

Non-renewable materials• minerals & metals

(e.g., iron, lead, gravel) • non-renewable organics

(e.g., petroleum products)• very large flows - infrastructure level

(e.g., erosion, earth moving)

Renewable organic materials (e.g., lumber, paper, food)

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Materials in the 21st Century

• 21st Century Issues – Drivers & Barriers for Sustainability: - Population, economy & technology – links & changes- Pressures to use/reuse all resources more sustainably - Realization that “waste” should signal “opportunity”

• Recent report card on materials:- Materials used/waste generated going up- Materials used/capita up, materials used/GDP down

- Outputs of harmful materials - mixed - Most resources returned to environment as wastes within one year- Atmosphere is biggest dumping ground for wastes[from WRI: The Weight of Nations: Material Outflows from Industrial Economies (2000)]

• Materials challenge: How to use materials more sustainably?Use materials more efficiently, throughout the total resource cycle, and shift to environmentally preferable materials. [from EPA: Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship (2005)]

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Sustainable Materials Management

“Sustainable Materials Management is an approach to promote sustainable materials use, integrating actions targeted at reducing negative environmental impacts and preserving natural capital throughout the life-cycle of materials, taking into account economic efficiency and social equity.”

- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

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The Flow of Materials

ResourceExtraction

MaterialsProcessing

ProductManufacture

ProductUse

Collection &Processing

MaterialsDisposal

Recycle Re-useRe-manufacture

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Renew

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The Flow of Materials(Expanded version)

Materials Processing

Resource ExtractionProduct Design and

ManufacturingProduct Use

Composting

Transportation

Renew Remanufacture

Collection/ Processing

Recycle Reuse

Energy,WaterInputs

Energy,WaterInputs

Energy,WaterInputs

Energy,WaterInputs

Energy,WaterInputs

Energy,WaterInputs

Air, Water,LandEmissions

Air, Water,LandEmissions

Air, Water,LandEmissions

Air, Water,LandEmissions

Air, Water,LandEmissions

Air, Water,LandEmissions

Disposal

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12 Ways To Manage Materials

Within each stage:1. Improve/minimize extraction/harvesting.2. Process materials efficiently - reduce waste/energy use.3. Improve product design/manufacture, incl. materials choices.4. Improve use of product.5. Increase reuse, remanufacture, recycling.6. Discourage use of waste disposal facilities.

Between the stages: 7. Reuse the product.8. Remanufacture the product.9. Recycle the product or byproduct.10. Locate/move facilities to minimize the transportation

Across all stages: 11. Measure material flows (What gets measured gets managed.)12. Focus on needs/solutions, not the products themselves.

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The Flow of Materials: Policy and Program Approaches

ResourceExtraction

MaterialsProcessing

ProductManufacture

ProductUse

Collection &Processing

MaterialsDisposal

Recycle Re-useRe-manufacture

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Natural resource policy Design for Environment Product policy Waste CharacterizationNational security Dematerialization Product Stewardship Waste Policy

Lean Manufacturing WEEE, RoHS, REACT (Municipal/Industrial)Packaging Labeling

Taxes/fees/incentives, Supply Chain Management, government purchasing, Green Chemistry/Engineering, individual behavior, management of hazardous chemicals, other resource use (e.g. energy), Environmental Management Systems, Material Flow Analysis, Life Cycle Analysis, Industrial Ecology, Ecological Footprint, Zero Waste, Cradle-to-Cradle, Sound Material Cycle Society, Circular Economy, Natural Capitalism, Sustainability,Sustainable Materials Management, RCRA Vision

Rethink: What are the different ways to get the value/service that we wanted in the first place?

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Sustainable Materials: Viewpoints & Government Roles

• Two broad substantive points of view: - Materials (multiple sources, products & waste streams)- Products (multiple materials, similar waste streams)

• Several broad organizational points of view: - Government, private sector, individuals, public-private partnerships

• Types of government action: - Incentives, partnerships, encourage voluntary action- Traditional “command and control” regulations- Information to support all of the above

• Levels of organization and government: - International, National, State, Local

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Material Flow Accounts• MF Accounts quantify material flows, tracking the

movement of materials from extraction to manufacturing, product use, reuse/recycling and eventual disposal, and showing emissions to the environment at each step.

• MF Accounts enable Material Flow Analysis. They are an information tool with many uses in the public and private sectors. They can lead to a variety of insights, public policies and private actions.

• Methodologies and prototypes exist, but countries are at different stages of development. An active international and U.S. dialogue is under way.

• Long-term vision: Create material flow accounts that are at least as good as economic accounts.

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MF Accounts in the U.S.• U.S. prototypes include:

- World Resources Institute - Resource Flows: The Material Basis of Industrial Economies (1997)- The Weight of Nations: Material Outflows from Industrial Economies

(2000)- Material Flows in the United States: A Physical Accounting of the U.S. Industrial Economy (2007 - forthcoming)

- Yale University – Stocks & Flows Project- NY Academy of Sciences (NY-NJ Harbor Project)- WA State – used MFA to help plan “Beyond Waste”

• National Academy of Sciences: Materials Count: The Case for Material Flows Analysis (2003)

• Interagency Paper: “MFA: How They Can Be Used As An Information Tool for 21st Century Public Policy” (2003)

• U.S. Government data sources: EPA, USGS, DOE, USDA, DOC, others

• U.S. is in the middle of the international pack.

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Example: U.S. Flows of Lead

Source: Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1997)

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Example: Flows of Iron & Steel – E.U.“Environmental hot-spots" of the EU iron & steel system, 2000 (million tonnes)

Source: OECD (from Moll, et al. 2005)

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Example: Construction Materials

Table 6. Housing and Construction Materials in the United States, 1975-2000

Material Used for:

Consumption in 2000 (000 metric tons)

% change since 1975

Asbestos Roofing products 9 -72%Aluminum Construction 1,113 27%Gypsum Gypsum products 27,400 201%Clay, ball Floor and wall tiles 331 373%Clay, ball Sanitary ware 274 372%Titanium dioxide Paint, varnishes and lacquers 575 93%Lumber Construction 68,227 76%Plywood & Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) Construction 9,010 19%Wood Panels Construction (estimated 80%) 13,942 133%Lumber Other 10,698 53%

Plywood & Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) Other 3,897 128%Wood Panels Other (estimated 20%) 3,486 133%

TOTAL 138,962 91%Total population (millions) 275.3 28%Total housing units (thousands) 115,905 46%

Source: WRI Material Flows Database 2005.

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EPA-State Vision 2020 Project

• Joint effort of EPA and State officials to build roadmap for “RCRA Vision” (report published by EPA in 2002, outlining a vision of a materials management society)

• Identify key materials/product groups in terms of flows and overall environmental impacts based on:– Existing data (material flows, life-cycle impacts, energy, water,

waste)– Global trends that could affect materials (population, economics,

technology, energy & water resources, security) – Simple analysis of key resource flows

• Identify necessary actions by governments and others– Systems perspective recognizing interconnectedness of

environment and economy– Emphasize actions in early stages of material flow lifecycle.

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Vision 2020 Project Steps

• Identify key materials/products.- Project drawing on information from U.S. Government (EPA, DOE,

USGS, USDA), World Resources Institute, OECD, JIE, EIPRO, others in US and abroad. - Other studies suggest careful look at housing, food and transport.

• Identify necessary actions by governments and others. - Assess government’s ability to address challenges using a material

flow or systems approach. What is the proper role for government? What changes are needed – synergies, refocus, new capabilities?

- What are the roles for others? - Consider lessons learned from past efforts.

• Expect to complete report in 2008. - How to assure success?

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Materials: International Initiatives

• G8- Evian (2003), Sea Island (2004), Gleneagles (2005),

St. Petersburg (2006), Heiligendamm (2007), Hokkaido (2008)- 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• OECD- Material Flow Accounts – guidance, survey (2008) - Sustainable Materials Management - Barriers to international trade of recyclable materials- Proposed Council Recommendation

• UNEP- International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management- OECD-UNEP Conference on Resource Efficiency (April 2008)

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For Further Information

http://www.epa.gov/osw/vision.htm http://www.epa.gov/sustainabilityhttp://www.epa.gov/innovationhttp://www.epa.gov/eprhttp://www.epa.gov/dfe http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/ http://www.ecy.wa.gov/beyondwaste/ http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309089441 http://materials.wri.org/

Frederick W. (Derry) AllenCounselor, Office of Environmental Policy InnovationOffice of Policy, Economics and Innovation (1807T)U.S. Environmental Protection Agency1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NWWashington, DC 20460 USATel: +1-202-566-2167Fax: +1-202-566-2211Email: allen.derry@epa.gov