Industrial ecology and resource recovery present opportunities for more sustainable resource use. Current systems are often linear rather than circular, and barriers include inconsistent regulations, high approval costs, and a lack of coordination between industries. The development of industrial ecology precincts and a partner identification program could help by facilitating symbiotic relationships and new investment opportunities between organizations to reduce waste and increase renewable energy and commodity recovery. Transitioning to industrial ecology requires risk-based regulation that incentivizes recycling by treating some wastes as resources when environmental risks are low.
2. About ACOR
• Australia’s peak representative of the
resource recovery and recycling industry
• Advocate on behalf of the industry to
influence government policy and decision
making
• Work closely with the Federal and the State
Government to promote a sustainable and
productive economy
3. The “old” waste hierarchy
• This is linear, not circular, but a
useful intermediate /transitional
framework
grantm@acor.org.au
4. Linear Vs Circular C&P
Linear C&P
• Unsustainable consumption
and production
• Materials lost in the value chain
• High operation and production
cost
• Increase pressure in landfill
• Loss of residue energy
Circular C&P
• Sustainable consumption and
production
• Materials are reused/ recycled
• Mitigate the impacts of
resource volatility
• Reduce waste generation
• Save up to 80% of upstream
energy
5. What are the challenges of
businesses and industries
facing today?
6. “Peak Resources” is Past Us! Need Industrial
Ecology for Radical Resource Efficiency
7. Future Pathway of Waste? Sustainability of
Current System?
grantm@acor.org.au
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
In$million
Waste Exports
Paper
Metal
Plastics
11. Secondary Resource Prices Are Not Telling
the Truth: They are too Expensive!!
• P- price
• Q – quantity
• D- demand
• MPC – marginal
production cost
• BUA/regulatory
cost– marginal
cost from
regulating a
resource as a
waste
P
QD
MPC
MPC
+BUA
cost
12. Dimensions of Resource Scarcity
Physical
Not accessible
Decline of ore
grade
Depletion of
reserve
Economic
Price volatility
Market
development
Skill shortage
Geopolitical
Resource
nationalism
Political
stability
Regional
conflicts
Technological
Supply
bottlenecks
Lack of
innovations
Environmental
Social license
to operate
Climate
change
Environmental
standards
13. China’s Green Fence Policy
• Come into effect in February 2013
• Higher standards on imports of recycled material to
promote circular economy
• Reject shipments considered to have a contamination
rate of 1.5% or higher
– Loads of shipping containers that carried recyclable
materials have been rejected
• Provide discounted prices for local manufacturing
companies to purchase new equipment for
manufacturing recycled products
CHINA is moving fast to a circular
economy
14. Other issues
• Information gap between waste generators and
recyclers in relation to material inputs and outputs
• Increasing operation cost of recyclers subject to
carbon tax liability
• Increasing production cost of manufacturers due to
high resource prices
• Loss of valuable commodities and materials
suitable for recycling due to export and loss to landfill
• Environmental and social issues
16. Opportunities
• The total value of resource recovery in Australia
is over $9.5 billion
• NSW EPA supports the development of IEP
– Waste Less, Recycle More strategy: $465.7 million
package over 5 years
– $4 million investment in the IE program over 4 years
– Sustainability Advantage Program
• NSW 2014 recycling targets
18. Barriers to IE
• Legislation and regulation
– High- level resource recovery policies & strategies
are inadequately integrated across govt portfolios,
e.g. industry policy, environmental planning,
regulation and enforcement
– Current legislation/ regulation is too strict on wastes,
esp. prescribed wastes inhibit firms’ search for
industrial waste reutilization
– Different jurisdictions have different interpretations
on the definition of waste
19. Barriers to IE (Cont.)
• Costs of licensing and approvals
– Time consuming (up to 5 years),
complicated assessment process
• Not enough markets to absorb recyclables
and quality issues (contamination)
• Lack of communication between product
manufacturers and recyclers
20. Barriers to IE (Cont.)
• Site location and planning
– Difficulties in obtaining development
approval when aspects such as location,
community agreement and capital cost are
in place
– Lack of certainty about planning policy
– The site location is often ‘out in the bush’
or lacks of social license to operate=
complaints= NIMBY
22. Recommendations
• resource recovery and recycling policy integration
and alignment
• The definition of waste needs to narrow so that the
inherent value of recyclable materials can be
reflected
• Clear and consistent definitions of waste and
resource recovery
23. Recommendations (Cont.)
• No legislative constraint on businesses to favour
recycling/IE as long as the materials do not
threaten human and environmental health
• Master plan for approvals to ease the costs and
streamline the approval process
• A broad network of the IEP to facilitate and
support interactions between industries
• “Rethink design” = Made to be made again
25. A Precinct and Partner Identification
Program (PPIP)
• Deliver both bi- lateral symbiotic
relationships for existing businesses
• Work with companies and governments on
precinct identification and development
• Create new investments opportunities in
industrial processes, mining and
agriculture
26. PPIP Key Process Steps
• Maximum source separation of waste
– Green waste, recyclables, hard/ difficult/ problem
wastes and residual waste
• Creation of infrastructure and technology
advancement
– Reduce material separation and pre- sorting costs
• The development should be gradual and led by
industry
27. Elements of PPIP
• Accessible and user friendly for the community
• Accept and process a wide range of wastes
• Diverse business activities
• Industry- led
• Driven by economic motivations
• Maximise the output of energy from waste
• Operate 7 days
28. Key Facilities
• A composting or Biochar operation- Green
waste
• A MRF- Recyclables
• An energy from waste plant- Residual
materials
• An e- waste plant
• A drop off centre
29. Organic waste
Glass, paper, cardboard,
beverage cans, etc
E- waste
Batteries, paint, oil
and chemicals Residual Waste (wood, textiles,
masonry)
Recycling Process
Manufacturing industry
Composting Facility
MRF
Residual Derived Fuel
Domestic Consumption
Export Market
Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy
30. Outcomes
• Reduction of illegal dumpling
• Sustainable employment creation and investment
opportunities
• Less resilience on landfill
• Business cost reduction and improved community
relations
• Support local re- manufacturing, reprocessing and
national and international trade
• Develop export markets for recovered resources
• Create revenue streams from commodities
31. Transitioning Towards Industrial Ecology and a
Genuinely Sustainable Materials Economy
Means…
• To provide ‘correct’ incentives for behavioural change, the regulation
of wastes (BUA’s, storage regulations) being applied to “wastes”
needs to cease when the waste becomes a resource as long as the
“negative externalities” (harm to environmental, and human health)
cease to exist
• This should be risk based regulation reflecting the magnitude and
probability of occurrence of negative environmental ‘externalities’
• Industrial ecology is potentially a great business model too because
of ↑ resource prices/input costs!
• Govt policy is contradictory, both promoting and constraining
simultaneously
• We may need to start with a blank piece of paper, and share the
pen around!
Editor's Notes
Used by Government and industry
All resources are inherently limited
Avoidance=cost minimisation should not be at the expense of viable recovery options
Its not going to work
Waste in the value chain:
a large volume of materials are lost in the chain between raw material extraction and final manufacturing process
loss of materials in the food production process
Price volatility levels for metals, food, and non-food agricultural output in the first decade of the 21st century were higher than in any single decade in the 20th century. Prices and volatility are likely to remain high as populations grow and urbanise, resource extraction moves to harder-to-reach locations, and the environmental costs associated with the depletion of natural capital increase
Towards the circular economy vol. 1 p. 18
Paper, Plastics and Metals exports up and up: but going to china!!!!!!!!!!!
They only want the good stuff
Sick of being a toxic dump for the world
Note glass, LCA, cost reduction, light weighting issue, lost resource at design phase
Food Commodity Price: cereals, sugars, dairy products, meats (FAO 2013)
Agricultural materials: fertilizer, machinery, labour, pesticides
Towards the circular economy vol. 1 p. 19
Notes:
The total waste generation in Australia was 53.7 million tonnes in 2011-12, in which 24.9 million tonnes is to landfill.
The amount of waste generated in NSW has increased from 11.8 million tonnes in 2002- 03 to 17.1 million tonnes in 2010-11.
Market failure which does not take into consideration marginal social costs of packaging in order to internalise this market failure price needs to contain marginal social , economic and environmental cost including the cost of recovery and recycling
Declining ore grades– zinc, lead and particularly copper and nickel will be affected, as will precious metals such as gold and platinum, rare metals already running out
Low hanging fruit — the high quality large deposits have already been found, lower economic attractiveness of new projects, cost inflation
Price and currency volatility
Market restrictions - a number of emerging economies such as Indonesia have either imposed or are considering new export restrictions on a variety of metals
High risk – greenfield projects located outside traditional mining countries face multiple challenges. Citigroup suggests that a quarter of these may not be developed before 2020, with a further 40% at risk.
Increasing interdependence of resource systems - closely interlinked on the local level and increasingly on the global level
Access -Supply bottlenecks for much needed and scarce equipment
Lack of innovation and technological advancements
Environmental group and labor risks, mining unrest — lack of a social license to operate, incredibly difficult and lengthy permitting processes
Climate change, accidents and natural disasters
Notes:
Increasing production cost– A Euro- barometer survey found that more than half of companies in manufacturing, construction, water, food services and agricultural sectors spend at least 30% of their total cost on materials. Almost 90% of the businesses expected the prices will go up in the future (Bleischwitz 2011).
NSW Waste Less, Recycle More Strategy
$250 million to waste and recycling infrastructure package
Sustainability Advantage Program
Industrial ecology focus
Over 630 organisations involved
Cost saving over $50.4 million
80, 000 tonnes of industrial waste reused or recycled
Note:
High- level resource recovery policies & strategies are inadequately integrated across govt portfolios, e.g. industry policy, environmental planning, regulation and enforcement
E.g. Alternative waste technology: the marketing of organics or alternative fuel resources from municipal solid waste (MSW) are hampered by EPA preventing their beneficial use
Energy rich resources, such as non- marketable paper and plastics derived from MSW are not allowed to be used by industry as alternative fuels. These materials are being disposed in landfill
2) Strict legislation/ regulation
Decreases the value of recyclable resources and impedes optimal resource recovery performance
Kalundborg, Denmark:
Govt provides flexibility over the treatment of wastes as long as the wastes are provided not to cause human and the environmental harm.
Confusing definition
E.g. Use of Ash
Ash generators have to go through BUA for the use of ash as fertilize. However, BUA does not apply to fertilizer manufacturers for the use of ash.
Note:
Difficulties in obtaining development approval
Development consent from local government
Developer has to provide:
Environmental assessments, e.g. EIA/ EIS
Integrated development assessment
Project approvals
Waste licensing
Rethink design:
policy makers should align thinking to accelerate what needs to be pushed
Producers and waste managers should work together to increase the efficiency of collections for recycling and the design for disassemble
“Cradle to cradle” approach: how the products can be recycled at the end of life
Reference: http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2013/06/debate-over-the-role-of-design-for-recycling-and-the-move-to-a-c.html
diversity of chemistry
Resource recovery and recycling industry is the main driver for IE!!!!!!
Accessible:
Easy access to expressway, ports or major transport route
Facilities should be recognises as an “issue of State significant’ rather than locating them “out in the bush” or located where they will incur higher transportation costs.
Led by Private Sector:
Main driver for industrial ecology is financial initiatives whilst government regulation plays a smaller role
Role of government is to provide initiatives for private sector to invest in technology and infrastructure rather than direct regulation to enforce or encourage industrial ecology
Driven by economic motivations:
Financial gain
Companies reduce costs by using the by- products of other companies
Avoiding transport costs
Purchasing resources below market prices