Waste in islands: a political ecology perspective on postcolonial metabolism

Islands are tightly connected to globalized material flows, with specific constraints and vulnerabilities. They are not closed metabolic loops of consumption, production, and waste, favorable to the circular economy. Small islands allow the observation of the material outcomes of circulation, from overflowing dumpsites to marine debris washing up on the shore. We argue that islands are key territories for better understanding the Capitalocene, precisely because of the ways in which they are connected to (rather than isolated from) globalized material flows. This article is a comparative geographical analysis of waste realities in three French/formerly French island territories: Ndzuwani (Comoros), Réunion, and New Caledonia. It builds on metabolism analysis and waste studies—in particular waste colonialism—to address the different perspectives that these approaches open up for the study of island territories. The long-term sociohistorical context of each island helps to explain contemporary waste management policies and practices. A material flow analysis makes it possible to sketch out metabolic profiles that show the contribution of prevailing mining and agricultural industries to waste generation. The comparison of current situations regarding household waste discourses and economies shows how these territories are characterized by waste accumulation.

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HOW TO INCREASE CIRCULARITY IN THE SWISS ECONOMY?

Detritus ◽

10.31025/2611-4135/2021.14057 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 25-31

Author(s):

Cecilia Matasci ◽

Marcel Gauch ◽

Heinz Boeni

Keyword(s):

Economic System ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Material Flow ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flows ◽

Environmental Threats ◽

High Level ◽

Recycled Waste

Environmental threats are triggered by the overconsumption of raw materials. It is therefore necessary to move towards a society that both reduces extraction and keeps the majority of the extracted raw materials in the socio-economic system. Circular economy is a key strategy to reach these goals. To implement it effectively, it is necessary to understand and monitor material flows and to define hotspots, i.e. materials that need to be tackled with the highest priority. This paper is aimed at determining how to increase circularity in the Swiss economy by means of a Material Flow Analysis coupled with a simplified Life Cycle Assessment. After having characterized material flows, we analyzed two types of hotspots: i) Raw materials consumed and/or disposed at high level, and ii) Raw materials whose extraction and production generates high environmental impacts. The Material Flow Analysis shows that each year 119 Mt of raw materials enter the Swiss economy. Therefrom, 15 Mt are derived from recycled waste inside the country; 67 Mt leave the system yearly; 27 Mt towards disposal. Out of the disposed materials, 56% are recycled and re-enter the socio-economic system as secondary materials. Looking at hotspots; concrete, asphalt, gravel and sand are among materials that are consumed and disposed at high level. Yet, looking at greenhouse gas emissions generated during extraction and production, metals - including the ones in electrical and electronic equipment - as well as textiles are among the categories that carry the biggest burden on the environment per unit of material.

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Material and Energy Flow Analysis

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.109 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vincent Moreau ◽

Guillaume Massard

Keyword(s):

Material Flow ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Energy Performance ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Economic Systems ◽

Material Flows ◽

Analytical Methodology ◽

Early 21St Century ◽

Performance Development

The concept of metabolism takes root in biology and ecology as a systematic way to account for material flows in organisms and ecosystems. Early applications of the concept attempted to quantify the amount of water and food the human body processes to live and sustain itself. Similarly, ecologists have long studied the metabolism of critical substances and nutrients in ecological succession towards climax. With industrialization, the material and energy requirements of modern economic activities have grown exponentially, together with emissions to the air, water and soil. From an analogy with ecosystems, the concept of metabolism grew into an analytical methodology for economic systems. Research in the field of material flow analysis has developed approaches to modeling economic systems by assessing the stocks and flows of substances and materials for systems defined in space and time. Material flow analysis encompasses different methods: industrial and urban metabolism, input–output analysis, economy-wide material flow accounting, socioeconomic metabolism, and more recently material flow cost accounting. Each method has specific scales, reference substances such as metals, and indicators such as concentration. A material flow analysis study usually consists of a total of four consecutive steps: (a) system definition, (b) data acquisition, (c) calculation, and (d) interpretation. The law of conservation of mass underlies every application, which implies that all material flows, as well as stocks, must be accounted for. In the early 21st century, material depletion, accumulation, and recycling are well-established cases of material flow analysis. Diagnostics and forecasts, as well as historical or backcast analyses, are ideally performed in a material flow analysis, to identify shifts in material consumption for product life cycles or physical accounting and to evaluate the material and energy performance of specific systems. In practice, material flow analysis supports policy and decision making in urban planning, energy planning, economic and environmental performance, development of industrial symbiosis and eco industrial parks, closing material loops and circular economy, pollution remediation/control and material and energy supply security. Although material flow analysis assesses the amount and fate of materials and energy rather than their environmental or human health impacts, a tacit assumption states that reduced material throughputs limit such impacts.

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Estimating the Global Inflow and Stock of Plastic Marine Debris Using Material Flow Analysis: a Preliminary Approach

Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy ◽

10.7846/jkosmee.2015.18.4.263 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 263-273 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Yong Chang Jang ◽

Jongmyoung Lee ◽

Sunwook Hong ◽

Hyun Woo Choi ◽

Won Joon Shim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Material Flow ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Marine Debris

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Urban Material Flow Analysis: An approach for Greater Kuala Lumpur

Asian Journal of Quality of Life ◽

10.21834/ajqol.v3i11.135 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (11) ◽

pp. 193

Author(s):

Farah Ayuni Shafie ◽

Dasimah Omar ◽

Subramaniam Karuppannan ◽

Nurhayati Shariffuddin

Keyword(s):

Environmental Impacts ◽

Material Flow ◽

Publishing House ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Electricity Consumption ◽

Kuala Lumpur ◽

Material Flows ◽

International Publishing

The objective of the study was to estimate environmental impacts of the cities in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Kajang, Sepang, and Putrajaya by using material flow analysis. The study assessed prime material flows within three cities in Malaysia; electricity consumption, water usage, food consumption, carbon dioxide emission, wastewater production and solid waste. A functional unit of kg/cap/day was defined for all the material flows. Putrajaya was seen as the highest consumer of water, even with the lowest population. Kajang contributed the most of in terms of environmental impacts, followed by Sepang and Putrajaya.Keywords: material flow analysis, urban management, resource consumption eISSN 2398-4279 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.21834/ajqol.v3i11.135

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The Sustainability of Complex Economic Systems. An Application of National Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to the Brazilian Economy

tripleC Communication Capitalism & Critique Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society ◽

10.31269/triplec.v2i1.11 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

José Alberto Da Costa Machado ◽

Norbert Fenzl ◽

Armin Mathis

Keyword(s):

Economic System ◽

Material Flow ◽

Open Systems ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Economic Systems ◽

Material Flows ◽

Material Consumption ◽

Global Trend ◽

The Relationship

A systemic approach to sustainability is suggested where the society-environment relationship is conceived in terms of complex, open systems. The sustainability of the relationship between society and the environment can be analyzed with the help of Material Flow Analysis (MFA). MFA reveals aspects of the economy that concern its relationship to the environment and can't be covered by monetary analyses. In this work material flows and their resulting indicators for the Brazilian economy from 1975 to 1995 are presented. The results show that the Brazilian economy in 1995 became much more intensive in material than in 1975. This development is in line with a global trend of material consumption becoming more intensive and unsustainable. The global economic system has not diminished its size, but expanded its consumption drive in relation to the environment.

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The Sustainability of Complex Economic Systems. An Application of National Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to the Brazilian Economy

tripleC Communication Capitalism & Critique Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society ◽

10.31269/vol2iss1pp1-5 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

José Alberto Da Costa Machado ◽

Norbert Fenzl ◽

Armin Mathis

Keyword(s):

Economic System ◽

Material Flow ◽

Open Systems ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Economic Systems ◽

Material Flows ◽

Material Consumption ◽

Global Trend ◽

The Relationship

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Materialflussanalyse mit ERP-Transportaufträgen*/Material flow analysis using transport orders

wt Werkstattstechnik online ◽

10.37544/1436-4980-2017-03-25 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 107 (03) ◽

pp. 129-133

Author(s):

D. Knoll ◽

M. Prüglmeier ◽

G. Prof. Reinhart

Keyword(s):

Enterprise Resource Planning ◽

Material Flow ◽

Assembly Line ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Resource Planning ◽

Material Flows ◽

Number Of Components ◽

Continuous Material ◽

High Effort

Die Materialflussanalyse ist eine Methode zur Identifikation von Schwachstellen im Materialfluss. Die Methode ist jedoch aufgrund hoher manueller Aufwände bei der Datenerfassung und -aufbereitung nur beschränkt in der hochvarianten Montage einsetzbar, welche aus einer Vielzahl an Bauteilen und Prozessen besteht. Die automatisierte Ableitung und Visualisierung von Materialflüssen aus ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)-Transportaufträgen ermöglicht eine kontinuierliche Materialflussanalyse zur Verbesserung des Materialflusses.   Material flow analysis is a method for identifying weakpoints in the material flow. Due to the high number of components and processes in the high-mix model assembly line, the method is limited due the high effort in collecting and preparing data. An automated approach to derive and visualize material flows using transport orders enables a continuous material flow analysis to improve the material flow.

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Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Analysis: Two Under-Utilized Tools for Informing E-Waste Management

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13147939 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 7939

Author(s):

Sohani Vihanga Withanage ◽

Komal Habib

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Material Flow ◽

Keyword Search ◽

Technological Development ◽

Flow Analysis ◽

Material Flow Analysis ◽

Civil Society Organizations ◽

The Past ◽

Depth Analysis

The unprecedented technological development and economic growth over the past two decades has resulted in streams of rapidly growing electronic waste (e-waste) around the world. As the potential source of secondary raw materials including precious and critical materials, e-waste has recently gained significant attention across the board, ranging from governments and industry, to academia and civil society organizations. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the last decade of e-waste literature followed by an in-depth analysis of the application of material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), i.e., two less commonly used strategic tools to guide the relevant stakeholders in efficient management of e-waste. Through a keyword search on two main online search databases, Scopus and Web of Science, 1835 peer-reviewed publications were selected and subjected to a bibliographic network analysis to identify and visualize major research themes across the selected literature. The selected 1835 studies were classified into ten different categories based on research area, such as environmental and human health impacts, recycling and recovery technologies, associated social aspects, etc. With this selected literature in mind, the review process revealed the two least explored research areas over the past decade: MFA and LCA with 33 and 31 studies, respectively. A further in-depth analysis was conducted for these two areas regarding their application to various systems with numerous scopes and different stages of e-waste life cycle. The study provides a detailed discussion regarding their applicability, and highlights challenges and opportunities for further research.

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