MATERIAL FLOW ACCOUNTS

1
MATERIAL FLOW ACCOUNTS

• A Tool for Assessment of Alternatives?
• Frances Irwin, World Resources Institute
• Lowell, Dec. 1-4, 2004

2
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.

3
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
4
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

5
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

6
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

7
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

8
Trends in Material Inputs to the U.S. Economy,
1975-2000
Source World Resources Institute 2004
9
Trends in Material Outputs to the U.S. Economy,
1975-2000
Source World Resources Institute 2004
10
Correlation of Population Density with Domestic
Material Consumption per Capita
Source World Resources Institute 2004
11
Metals and Minerals Recycling per Capita and as
a Percent of Use, 1975-2000
Source World Resources Institute 2004
12
Crop Production and Pesticides Consumption,
1975-2000
Source World Resources Institute 2004
13
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 EPAs
  TRACI

14
Characterization of Outputs in kg per person
Source World Resources Institute 2004
15
Potentially Hazardous Outflows to the U.S.
Environment, 197596
16
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

17
Material Flow Data Sheet
18
Life Cycle Information
19
Data Availability for Five Waste Minimization
Priority Chemicals
Source World Resources Institute 2004
20
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?

21
Housing and Construction Materials in the United
States
Source World Resources Institute 2004
22
Arsenic Outputs to the U.S. Environment, 1975-2000
Source World Resources Institute 2004
23
Cadmium Uses, 1975-2000
Source World Resources Institute 2004
24
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

25
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