Transcript MATERIAL FLOW ACCOUNTS

MATERIAL FLOW
ACCOUNTS
A Tool for Assessment of
Alternatives?
Frances Irwin, World Resources Institute
Lowell, Dec. 1-4, 2004
What are Material Flow
Accounts?
• Material Flow Accounts track the amounts
of materials--as classes or individual
substances--that enter national economies,
accumulate in capital stock, and exit to the
environment during extraction,
manufacturing, use, recycling/reuse,
disposal.
The Materials Cycle
Foreign
Hidden
Flows
Imports
Exports
ECONOMIC
PROCESSING
Domestic
Extraction
Domestic
Outputs
STOCKS
Domestic
Hidden Flows
Domestic
Hidden Flows
DOMESTIC ENVIRONMENT
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
Status of Material Flow Accounts
• European Union--guidance, analysis, and
indicators
• OECD--research on methods
• United States--NRC report, prototype
database and template for entering data
Prototype U.S. Database
• Developed by WRI, USEPA, and USGS
with other govt. agencies
• Includes bulk of materials flowing through
economy, about 180
• Inputs, Uses, Recycling, Outputs
• Times series for 1975-2000
Example Sources of Data
• Raw material supply--expert estimates, ag
and energy agencies, trade associations
• Production--Mineral Commodity
Summaries, govt. agencies, associations
• Use--Commodity Summaries, ag chemical
use database, Census Materials Summary
• Release/disposal--expert estimates, EPA
databases such as TRI and waste reports
Indicators at Level of Economy
• Create demand for substitution by providing
government and public with broad
indicators, use to set priorities
• Dematerialization--total materials, per
person, per unit of GDP, hidden flows
• Detoxification--dissipation of hazardous
materials
Material Inputs (DMI), indexed (1975 = 1.0)
Trends in Material Inputs to the U.S.
Economy, 1975-2000
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
Total
0.4
Per Capita
0.2
Per GDP (constant $US)
1975
1980
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
1985
1990
1995
2000
Trends in Material Outputs to the U.S.
Economy, 1975-2000
Domestic Processed Output (DPO),
indexed (1975 = 1.0)
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
Total
Per Capita
0.2
Per GDP (constant $US)
1975
1980
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
1985
1990
1995
2000
Correlation of Population Density with Domestic
Material Consumption per Capita
40
Finland
Domestic material consumption
(metric tons per person)
35
30
United
States
25
20
Ireland
Sw eden
Denm ark
Austria
Germ any
Spain
15
Greece
European Union
France
Portugal
Italy
Belgium
United Kingdom
10
Netherlands
5
-
50
100
150
200
250
300
2
Population Density (persons/km )
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
350
400
0.8
35
0.7
30
0.6
25
0.5
20
0.4
15
0.3
10
0.2
5
0.1
-
0
1975
1980
1985
Total recycling per capita
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
1990
1995
Recycling as a percent of total use
2000
Recycling as a Percent of Total Use
Total Recycling (million metric tons per
capita)
Metals and Minerals Recycling per Capita
and as a Percent of Use, 1975-2000
900
450
800
400
700
350
600
300
500
250
400
200
300
150
Crop Production
200
100
Conventional Pesticides Consumption
(agricultural sector)
100
0
50
0
1975
1980
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
1985
1990
1995
2000
pesticide consumption (thousand metric tons)
crop production (million metric tons)
Crop Production and Pesticides
Consumption, 1975-2000
Flow Characterization
• Mode of First Release--to air, water, or land
as gas, liquid, or solid
• Quality--biodegradable, chemically active,
persistent
• Velocity--years in economy, over 30 stock
• In future--use weighting scheme such as
EPA’s TRACI
Characterization of Outputs
in kg per person
Discharged
to air
(diffuse
sources)
Other
Discharged
to air
(point
sources)
Added to
Stock
Discharged
into water
Dispersed
on Land
C ontrolled
to Land
(liquid)
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
C ontrolled
on Land
(solid)
Potentially Hazardous Outflows
to the U.S. Environment, 1975–96
500
Other
Million metric tons
400
Chlorine
Heavy Metals
300
Asbestos
200
Salt
Synthetic Organic
Chemicals
100
Fuel-related
Contaminants
0
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
Disaggregating the Accounts
• Develop standard Material Flow Data Sheet
for entering data
• More detail on outputs at each stage of life
cycle
• Add more detail on synthetic organic
chemicals
Material Flow Data Sheet
Metadata
Inputs
Outputs
Name of material
Production
Extractive waste
Resource sector
Secondary production
Processing waste
Level
Byproduct production
Economic sector
Changes in inventory
Manufacturing
waste
Uses
Codes (SIC, CAS)
Imports/Exports of
materials, finished
goods
Associated flows
Recycling from
each use
Incidental outputs
Life Cycle Information
Outputs to the Air, Water, Land
Inputs
Raw
Material
Supply
Production
Use
Recycle
Remanufacture
Reuse
Disposal
Data Availability for Five Waste Minimization
Priority Chemicals
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
Information about Individual
Flows
• Are dissipative flows of persistent materials
decreasing?
• What materials are accumulating in durable
goods, stock?
• How will substitution of a material shift
flows?
Housing and Construction Materials
in the United States
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
Arsenic Outputs to the U.S.
Environment (thousand metric tons)
Arsenic Outputs to the U.S.
Environment, 1975-2000
35
30
Other
25
20
Glass
15
Wood
preservatives
10
C oal
C ombustion
5
Agricultural
chemicals
1975
1980
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
1985
1990
1995
2000
Cadmium Uses, 1975-2000
14,000
Metric Tons
Ni-Cd battery Imports
12,000
Ni-Cd battery production
Coatings and Plating
10,000
Pigments
Other *
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
Note: "Other" releases of Cadmium are from plastic stabilizers, coal combustion emissions, and alloys.
Source: World Resources Institute 2004
Advancing Material Flow
Accounts
• Test Material Flow Data Sheet--how make
make useful for assessing alternatives
• Propose materials to add to database
• Propose ways to present and disseminate
data to encourage material substitution
Institutionalize US Accounts
• Material Flow Accounts need a home in
United States; NRC recommends
partnership
• Build links with data providers, media,
investors, industry leaders, NGOs.
• Work with Congress to establish Accounts
useful in assessing alternatives