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The visible side
of consumption: municipal waste
The average European produces approximately 540 kg of municipal
waste per year. This waste is the parts of products (or services)
that we don't need any more, such as packaging, outdated newspapers,
or old, broken TV sets, coffee-machines, etc.
Municipal waste is the visible side of our consumption.
Actually, EU municipal waste only represents 14% of total
waste generated in the EU.
3,500 kg of solid waste per year and per person are produced
in the EU (excluding agricultural waste). This waste originates
mainly from manufacturing, construction and demolition, and
mining activities.
Indeed, most of our waste is hidden and
results from resource extraction and transformation into consumption
goods and infrastructure.
Source:
EEA, Environmental Signals 2002 - Waste and material flows
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The hidden side
of consumption : resources
While European produce in Europe around
2.000 M° tons of waste, the Wuppertal Institute in Germany
estimates the total material used by Europeans each year at
19.000 M° Tons. These 19,000 M° tons of material extracted,
used and/or wasted represents the Total Material Requirement
(TMR). This means that the average European consumes 50,000
kg of resources a year
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Kg/capita/year
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Kg/capita/week
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Kg/pers/day
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| Waste
in our dustbin |
540
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10
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1.5
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| Waste
we produce in Europe |
3,500
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70
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10
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| Resources
we use |
50,000
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950
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140
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Source:
EEA, Environmental Assessment Report 2002 - Waste and material
flows
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Which quantity
of resources do we actually use?
These 19,000 million tonnes of material extracted, used and/or
wasted represents the Total Material Requirement (TMR) of
the EU.
About 20% is added up to the stock in the form of buildings
and infrastructures such as roads, highways, and materials
incorporated into new durable goods such as cars, industrial
machinery, and household appliances… The remaining 80%
become waste in the year.
This waste is the hidden side of our consumption.
Material extracted for EU needs:
50.000 kg per capita = Total Material Requirement
10.000 kg per capita = buildings and infrastructures;
durable goods
40.000 kg per capita = waste in the year
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Did you know? Resource consumption
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The ecological
rucksack
So far, it is almost impossible for consumers
to know the ecological impacts of functionally equivalent
product in order to choose the most eco-efficient one. The
concept of "ecological rucksack" allows getting
an idea of these impacts by illustrating the amount of natural
resources which is used in a product during its entire life
cycle.
The ecological rucksack considers mass movements beginning
from resource excavation and their successive transformation
steps until the production of end-products. The use of products,
their disposal, recycling, transport, energy use for maintenance
are also taken into account. It thus permit to analyse and
compare the ecological impact for different deliverables within
the same system boundaries.
For instance, orange juice is made from
oranges grown in Brazil. The growing of oranges uses chemical
pesticides and fertilizers. Agriculture causes soil erosion.
Water is also used for irrigation. Oranges are picked and
transported by truck and then by air to Europe, where they
are squeeze and packaged. This requires a lot of Energy, particularly
oil. If all this is added up, each can of orange juice requires
25 kg of natural resources. This is called the "ecological
rucksack".
Source:The
World Game - Every choice Makes a difference - Teachers' guide
for consumer and environmental education, Motiva & Kuluttaja
A study realised in 1993 showed that
the average distance travelled by a strawberry yoghurt made
in Stuttgart (Germany) totalled 3,500 km. Another 4,500 km
could be added for the supplier's supply transports.
Source:
Factor Four, Ernst von Weizsäcker, Amory B Lovins, L.
Hunter Lovins, 1997
What is the ecological rucksack associated
to the production of "pure" metals used in manufacturing?
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Ecological
rucksack
(kg of material unused/ kg
of material extracted)**
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| Aluminium |
5
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| Iron |
14
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| Zinc |
27
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| Copper |
420
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Did
you know ? Ecological rucksack
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Which types of resources do we use?
Each European consume an average of 50
tons per year of materials of which :
- Fossil fuels contribute 29% to total material requirement
(TMR) out of which nearly two thirds (63%) are produced
in Europe, the remaining 37% are imported from non European
countries. Coal, crude oil, refinery products and natural
gas are the main components. 72% of the fossil fuels resource
requirement are not used and then constitute hidden flows.
TMR fossil fuel = 14,5 tons ; hidden flow = 10,44 tons;
EU production = 9,135 tons
- Metals hold 23% of TMR most of which (95%) is imported.
The main components are ores and concentrates, metals, and
products manufactured from iron, copper and other non-ferrous
metals. Again, most of the total resource requirements for
metals (92%) are hidden flows.
TMR metals = 11,5 tons; hidden flow = 10,98 tons; EU
production = 10,925
- Minerals represent 22% of the EU's TMR most of
which 91% are domestically extracted. The main components
are construction minerals, in particular sand and gravel,
natural stones, and clays, as well as a variety of industrial
minerals like salts, phosphates, diamonds and other precious
stones. In contrast to metals and fossil fuels, a much smaller
portion (24%) of the minerals resource requirement consists
of hidden flows.
TMR minerals = 11 tons ; hidden flow = 2,64 tons ; EU
production = 10,01 tons
- Biomass accounts for 12% of the TMR of EU-15. Most
of the biomass comes from agriculture.
- The rest results from excavation, dredging , erosion and
other imports.
Source:
Towards Sustainable Resource Management in the European
Union, Bringezu, Dr. Stefan, Wuppertal Papers No. 121, January
2002
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Renewable & non-renewable resources
Resources can be defined as those parts
of the earth's biological and mineral endowment from which
society derives value. In Scheme 1 a classification of resources
is given. This classification allows cutting the complex field
of the resources into functional areas of interest:
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(1)
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Renewable
resources that are non-extinguishable, such as wind
and sunlight. Reservoirs such as oceans and air can also
be seen as renewable (or replenishable), since these reservoirs
are regenerated in time. On the other hand, if the use
of these reservoirs outweighs the speed regeneration,
these resources become non-renewable in nature. For example,
if oxygen take-up by human activities would outweigh the
production of oxygen by green plants, depletion of oxygen
would take place. |
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(2)
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Renewable
resources that are extinguishable, i.e. all biological
resources (including biodiversity) and vulnerable reservoirs
(such as fertile soil, fresh water basins). |
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(3)
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Non-renewable
resources that are non-extinguishable, such as metals
and minerals. Although these resources cannot be destroyed,
they become dispersed gradually, either by natural causes
(leaching) or by human activities (mining and use). In
principle, recovery is possible, but requires a lot of
energy, particularly if dispersion in the environment
has taken place .(*) |
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(4)
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Non-renewable
resources that are extinguishable, i.e. fossil fuels.
These resources play a temporary role by definition: either
the use will stop because of depletion or because better
alternatives are found (e.g. flow resources and biomass). |
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(5)
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Space.
It is obvious that space is required to produce all before
mentioned resources: energy (e.g. solar and wind parks),
agriculture and forestry (including the conservation of
biodiversity). These functions have to be combined with
all human activities that are related to the use of resources,
e.g. housing, manufacturing and transportation. Space
may therefore be considered as a key resource. |
Source :
European
Commission, Towards a European Strategy for the Sustainable
use of Natural Resources, draft Paper, Meeting with Stakeholders,
April 10, 2002
More:
European Commission, Sustainable use of natural resources
(*)
For example: zinc from tires, which is dispersed on roads, is
in principle recoverable but since its concentration in run-off
water is very low this would require a lot of energy.
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Where do the
resources we use come from?
The European Union increasingly relies on foreign resources.
The domestic resource extraction within Europe has been slowly
cut and replaced by imports from foreign countries. Some of
European mineral deposits, for example iron ore mines, had
been depleted for a long time. Fossil fuels and metals are
almost entirely imported. On the other hand, Europe mainly
relies on its own production for biomass and minerals.
For the mining activities still carried
out in the European Union, the activities are generally more
efficient than resource extraction abroad for export to the
EU (in terms of the ratio of unused to used extraction). As
a consequence the environmental burden of resource extraction
is shifted to the exporting countries.
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Ecological
rucksack(kg of material unused/ kg of material extracted)**
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Share
of import in EU-15 consumption*
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Waste
remaining outside the EU (kg / kg of useful material
extracted)
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| Aluminium |
5
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60%
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3
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| Iron |
14
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93%
|
13
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| Zinc |
27
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74%
|
20
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| Copper |
420
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92%
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386
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| Tin |
-
|
100%
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Source:
Towards Sustainable Resource Management in the European Union,
Bringezu, Dr. Stefan, Wuppertal Papers No. 121, January 2002
Figure 2.4: Domestic
and foreign resource extraction of the European Union
Source : Bringezu
and Schütz 2001a
To
know more -Europe and resources
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project has received support from the European Commission.
The content of this website reflects the author's view
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