The <!---current---> WRI Material Flows Project <!---is developing---> developed a database of material outputs from industrial economies with international partners in Austria, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands. This database <!---will provide---> provides a framework for understanding flows, calculating indices, and ultimately analyzing impacts. It <!---will organize---> organizes the data so that anyone can use the disaggregated data. This <!---Materials Ecology Email---> outlines the characteristics of the material flows database. It also contrasts the material flows database with current data and suggests some beginning points of intersection.

The material flows database<!---will--->:

• tracks about 50 categories of materials that cover the major flows generated by the U.S. economy. (See Appendix for a preliminary list)

• provides annual data for years 1975 through 1996;
• estimates the mass of each material extracted from the environment (through mining, construction, and agriculture);
• estimates the mass of each material reentering the environment during extraction, processing, manufacturing, use, and waste management, and the amount recycled.
• uses existing databases (USGS, DOE, EPA) and expert knowledge as basis of estimates;
• characterizes output of each material in three ways:
• velocity (length of time between leaving and reentering the environment);
• mobilization (degree of control; part of environment material enters)
• quality (the change in the material once released, i.e. biodegradable)
  
  
• provides a framework that allows other characteristics such as toxicity to be added for analysis of impacts;

• Covers the entire national economy but also be a model for any geographic scale or economic sector;
• Is <!---Be---> available to the public.

The material flows database complements existing EPA data in four ways.

1. Use as well as wastes. Much of current data covers outputs, that is emissions and wastes. The material flows database focuses on materials used by the economy and the intensity and efficiency of that use.

2. All stages of materials cycle. Many current data relate to production and power generation facilities. The material flows database is built on the assumption that the potential for environmental impacts exists when any materials enter or leave the economy. The database will track materials extracted, processed, used or escaping as wastes or emissions. It will cover material in products as well as in wastes and emissions at all stages of the materials cycle.
3. Broader categories and ecological damage. Most current data on sources cover regulated substances: air or water pollutants, toxic substances, hazardous wastes, and solid wastes. The material flows database will cover about 50 major materials and characterize them by the speed with which they move through the economy and their mobilization and behavior in the environment
4. Action by economic sectors and national economies. EPA data cover levels from the facility to the national level. The material flows data are aimed at developing standard material indicators that link to economic indicators at the level of sectors and the national economies. These data will not be at the facility level.

Some possible intersections with EPA policymaking.

In addition to linking environmental and economic policies, a major focus of the project is to identify how materials flow data can serve as a new source of information for developing environmental policy. Some possible starting points include:

• non-point sources of pollution from agriculture, construction, and mining;

We would like to learn . . .

We are particularly interested in comments on the list of materials covered (see attachment) and sources of data we should use; suggestions on characteristics of database that would make it most usable; and starting points in using the data for policymaking.

Appendix
Preliminary list of materials

For this prototype set of indicators, we are concentrating on those materials either intuitively or relatively important to human or environmental health. We are estimating output flows to the ecosystem that occur in any phase of the materials life cycle: extraction, processing, manufacturing, use, recycling, and disposal.

Nonrenewable Materials

1) Industrial minerals

Gypsum

Clay

Sand and gravel (industrial)

Salt

Potash

Phosphate

Nitrogen (ammonia)

Asbestos

Sulfur

Bromine

Chlorine

Fluorspar (fluorine)

Beryllium

Iodine

2) Construction materials

Crushed stone

Sand and gravel

Asphalt

Cement

3) Metals

Aluminum

Gold

Copper

Iron ore

Lead

Zinc

Tin

Arsenic

Manganese

Cadmium

Mercury

Selenium

Silicon

Chromium

Gallium

Strontium

4) Chemicals (of nonrenewable material origin)

Plastics (polymers, binding agents)

Synthetic fibers

Lubricating oils

Petroleum coke

Synthetic rubber

Petrochemicals

Synthetic organic chemicals

5) Infrastructure

Dredging

Highway construction

New general construction

6) Fossil fuels (including minor constituents embodied in the energy commodity, (i.e. arsenic in coal, sulfur in oil and gas)

Liquid

Natural gas

Solid-coal, peat

Coal combustion products

7) Soil erosion

Renewable Materials

Agriculture

Forestry

Animal biomass

Natural rubber

Domestic gardening

Imports of Semi-Manufactures and Finished Products

Semi-Manufactures

Finished Products