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Identification of Relevant Substances and Materials for a Substance Flow-Oriented, Resource-Conserving Waste Management

- Results of a research project -

Aim of the project

The aim of the sub-project "Identification of relevant substances and materials for a substance flow-oriented, resource-conserving waste management" within the project "Development of the closed cycle and waste management policy towards a sustainable substance flow and resources policy" was to identify relevant materials, and relevant areas in the life cycle, that offer the greatest potentials and the greatest options for reducing environmental impacts and conserving resources. Another aim was to identify further investigation requirements. The project was also tasked to consider the relevance of material storage in the technosphere and the previous addressing by the closed cycle and waste management policy. In keeping with the life-cycle approach, the study was charged with considering flows of substances and materials, from extraction from the environment to production, to use and consumption, and to collection and renewed use or release into the environment.

Results of the project

The following method was chosen: for prequalification purposes, only existing statistics and data on environmental pollution (including upstream chains) from goods produced in Germany (sector perspective) or consumed in Germany (consumer perspective), were utilised and compiled. As a result, 10 particularly relevant produced goods, and 12 particularly relevant consumer goods, were identified and placed in the context of 6 principal material flow systems. After prequalification, and following a more detailed investigation of these six material flow systems, considerable potentials for reducing environmental impacts (conserving resources and saving energy, reducing waste flows, giving impetus to secondary material cycles, reducing polluting gases and greenhouse gas emissions, etc.) were identified and the principal options for action with regard to utilising these potentials were demonstrated. As a result, a total of 17 major areas of potential for reducing environmental impacts, along with relevant options for action, were identified (see the attached table [/english/waste_management/reports/doc/print/37343.php]). Of these, about half are relevant to the waste sector.

In addition, investigation requirements were identified with regard to accessing important identified potential reductions, including development of potential reductions in the areas of scrap and of demolition of buildings. Furthermore, important data gaps were identified in the areas of non-residential buildings and electrical and electronic products. These gaps should be closed within the foreseeable future.

In the coming decades, increasing amounts of materials will continued to be stored in Germany in goods and buildings.

Importance of the project

It is importance to recognize that effectiveness and efficiency are being increased in all areas of society, in both production and consumption. Such improvements extend to energy efficiency – another area in which the waste management sector can make valuable contributions, by recovering the energy stored in many wastes – and they extend to more productive, more efficient use of resources. Consequently, it is important to understand that the products of today are the resources of tomorrow. Today's wastes should be viewed as the "mines of the future". Innovative processes and technologies should be developed promptly to enable us to use the relevant substances on a long-term basis. In this context, the Coalition agreement calls for the waste management to be developed into a resource-conserving substance management. The project in question provides initial key insights in this regard. In addition to its relevance for the waste management, it also has relevance inter alia for the areas of climate protection, air quality control, soil conservation, nature conservation and resources conservation.

The project also makes important contributions to the achievement of the Federal Government's sustainability strategy (doubling raw-materials and energy productivity), to the planned "resources productivity" action programme, to discussion in the framework of the EU's strategies on waste prevention and recycling and on resources, to work in the framework of the OECD's working group on waste prevention and recycling with regard to the topic "sustainable material management" and to the "3R" initiative within the G8 framework. In light of increasing costs for raw materials and energy, the project is of importance for both business and consumers.

The project has shown that considerable potentials remains - notwithstanding the successes achieved to date with closed cycle and waste management policy in Germany - for increasing resources conservation and reducing environmental impacts in the years and decades to come.

The research results provide an outstanding basis for advising of policy-makers and for further research projects in the coming years. At the same time, it is important to note that other materials and life-cycle areas, in addition to those considered by this work, also hold potentials and for options for action which. Such additional materials and areas should be identified. Other useful criteria that should be considered include the availability of materials (scarcity) (for example, rare metals, non-ferrous metals) and materials' potential environmental hazards and pollutant content.

The researchers who carried out this work presented the project methods, and selected project results, at the OECD workshop on "sustainable material management" held in November 2005 in Seoul, Korea. As the presentations and reactions of other participants at that event indicated, with the present project Germany has assumed a leading role in the area in question.

More Information:
That website also presents the report from an earlier relevant project (literature survey) of December 2004: [/english/waste_management/reports/doc/print/37330.php] Integration of the closed cycle and waste management into a sustainable resource-conserving substance management