materials management and climate change an introduction

Materials Management and Climate Change

An Introduction

Overview

1) Consumption patterns2) Greenhouse gas connection to materials3) Role of materials management4) Ways to reduce material-related greenhouse

gasesa) Recyclingb) Extended producer responsibilityc) Limits of recyclingd) Product stewardshipe) Environmentally preferable purchasingf) Consuming lessg) Government actionsh) Additional resources for local/state

governments

Define “materials”.

Materials Consumption

Source: U.S. Inventory of GHG Emissions and Sinks : 1990-2006 (US EPA, 2008)

Electrical Power Industry

33%

Transportation27%

Industry19%

Commericial Building

6%

Residential Build-ing5%

Agriculture8%

Waste2%

US Greenhouse Gas Emissions (2006)

Source: U.S. Inventory of GHG Emissions and Sinks : 1990-2006 (US EPA, 2008)

US Greenhouse Gas Emissions (2006)

Source: Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices. U.S. EPA.

Building HVAC & Lighting

25%

Infrastructure1%

Appliances & Devices

8%Passenger Transport24%

Provision of Food13%

Provision of Goods

29%

Materials Management

42%

US Greenhouse Gas Emissions (2006)

Source: Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices. U.S. EPA

Building HVAC & Lighting

25%Infrastructure

1%

Use of Ap-pliances &

Devices8%

Passenger Transport24%

Production32%

Landfills & Wastewater

2% Freight7%

Materials: Production Dominates Emissions

Disp

osal

Rec

ove

ry

WASTE management vs. MATERIALS management

Product Lifecycle

Landfill

Lifecycle of Steel

Use

Recycling Distribution

ManufacturingProcessingResourceExtraction

“Materials management is an approach to using and reusing resources most efficiently and sustainably throughout their lifecycles. It seeks to minimize materials used and all associated environmental impacts.”

– From EPA, Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices (PDF) (98pp, 1.5MB)

Materials Management: A Working Definition

Photo credit: flickr Nick Bramhall, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 license

Reducing the Impacts of Our Consumption

Energy Use: Recycled vs. Virgin Content Products(million BTUs/ ton)

Recycling Conserves Energy

Recycling Rates

Recycling rates vs. waste generation

10

0

80

70

mill

ions

of

tons

EPA 2008 Facts and Figures

60

50

40

30

20

Recycled

Generated

Recycling vs. Waste Generation

39 million

cars off the road

22 million

homes heated/ year

50

power plants avoided

400 million

barrels of oil conserved

Impacts from Recycling Rate (33%)

Cost effectiveness of GHG reduction strategies

HP eliminated 90% of waste $870,564 saved

EPSON got to zero waste$300,000 saved

Extended Producer Responsibility Laws 2006

Extended Producer Responsibility Laws 2010

Jobs

Increase to 100% recycling nationally yields:

– 450 million metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions per year

– Includes all municipal solid waste MSW and construction, remodel, and demolition debris.

GHG Reduction Potential

2006 U.S. GHG inventorywith 32% recovery

(municipal solid waste)

2006 U.S. GHG inventory with hypothetical recovery rate

(~100% municipal solid waste + construction and demolition bebris)

Building HVAC & Light-

ing

Passenger Transport

Provision of Mate-

rials42%

Appliances & Devices

Infrastructure

Building HVAC & Lighting

Passenger Transport

Provision of Mate-

rials36% Appliances &

Devices

Infrastructure

“Sav-ings”6%

Limitations of Recycling and Composting

Product StewardshipTropicana Orange Juice

24

EPA Resources:• Electronic purchasing: http://www.epa.gov/epp/pubs/products/epeat/index.htm

• Recycled content purchasing: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/waste/calculators/ReCon_home.html

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing

greenhouse gas emissions

recycled content

water consumption

energy efficiency

Source: A study commissioned by Oregon Dept of Environmental Quality

Water Consumption

Relative greenhouse gas emissions of water comsumption options0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Plastic bottle, disposed

Plasitc bottle, re-cycled

Tap water, reusable bottle

Shipping bags – even if made from virgin resources and not recycled – have lower environmental burdens in most categories than cardboard boxes – even if the boxes contain high levels of recycled content.

PackagingSource: A study commissioned by Oregon Dept of Environmental Quality

Source: Oregon DEQ, Cascadia GBC

Building Materials

29Design for Deconstruction

Reduced ConsumptionPhoto credit: flickr user jesusali, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 license

Collaborative Consumption

Collaborative Consumption

Lending Libraries

State and Local Government Actions

State and Local Government ActionsPhoto credit: flickr kate*, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 license

State and Local Government Actions

PROCUREMENT

SPECIFICATIONS

LABELING

FOOTPRINTING

Tools and Resources

www.captoolkit.wikispaces.com

Summary

1) Connection between product consumption and greenhouse gas emissions

2) Role of materials management3) Ways to reduce material-related greenhouse

gasesa) Recyclingb) Extended producer responsibilityc) Limits of recyclingd) Product stewardshipe) Environmentally preferable purchasingf) Reuseg) Consuming lessh) Government actionsi) Additional resources for local/state

governments

Saskia van GendtVangendt.Saskia@epa.gov,415-947-4103

We welcome your feedback and ideas.