1. SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS: Moving from Waste Management to 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 Land Water Land Water Land Water 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. The Flow of Materials (Expanded version) Materials Processing
Resource Extraction
Product Design and Manufacturing
Product Use
Composting
Transportation
Renew
Remanufacture
Collection/ Processing
Recycle
Reuse
Energy, Water Inputs
Air, Water, Land Emissions
Disposal

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
Land
Water
Land
Water
Land
Water
Land
Water
Land
Water
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. - Yale University – Stocks & Flows Project
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 ( 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
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 InitiativesG8
- 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
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 USA
Tel:
Fax: