SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS: Moving from Waste Management to Materials Management - Overview -

1. SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS:Moving from Waste Managementto Materials Management- Overview - Derry Allen U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2008 Symposium on Innovating for Sustainable Results: Integrated Approaches for Energy, Climate, and the Environment Chapel Hill, NC January 9, 2008

2. Materials: Getting Oriented Major Natural Resource Systems • Air • Ecosystems • Energy • Land • Materials • Water • 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)

3. 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)]

4. 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)

5. The Flow of Materials Water Water Water Water Water Water Land Land Land Land Land Land Air Air Air Air Air Air Resource Extraction Materials Processing Product Manufacture Product Use Collection & Processing Materials Disposal Renew Recycle Re-manufacture Re-use

6. Transportation Resource Extraction Materials Processing Product Design and Manufacturing Product Use Collection/ Processing Disposal Energy,WaterInputs Air, Water,LandEmissions Air, Water,LandEmissions Air, Water,LandEmissions Air, Water,LandEmissions Energy,WaterInputs Energy,WaterInputs Energy,WaterInputs Energy,WaterInputs Energy,WaterInputs Air, Water,LandEmissions Air, Water,LandEmissions Composting Renew Recycle Remanufacture Reuse The Flow of Materials (Expanded version)

7. 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.

8. The Flow of Materials: Policy and Program Approaches Rethink: What are the different ways to get the value/service that we wanted in the first place? Water Water Water Water Water Water Land Land Land Land Land Land Air Air Air Air Air Air Resource Extraction Materials Processing Product Manufacture Product Use Collection & Processing Materials Disposal Renew Recycle Re-manufacture Re-use Natural resource policy Design for Environment Product policy Waste Characterization National 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

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Example: U.S. Flows of Lead Source: Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1997)

13. 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)

14. Example: Construction Materials

15. 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.

16. 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?

17. 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)

18. For Further Information http://www.epa.gov/osw/vision.htm http://www.epa.gov/sustainability http://www.epa.gov/innovation http://www.epa.gov/epr http://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) Allen Counselor, Office of Environmental Policy Innovation Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation (1807T) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20460 USA Tel: +1-202-566-2167 Fax: +1-202-566-2211 Email: allen.derry@epa.gov