The Current Status of Research and Development on Ecomaterials around the World
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The Current Status of Research and Development on Ecomaterials around the World
Kohmei Halada and Ryoichi Yamamoto Introduction The final decade of the 20th century was the most important period yet in establishing a sustainable society for the coming century. After the Earth summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the world’s population was challenged to decrease its environmental impact on the Earth. Nine years after the Rio summit, we are living in a more dangerous and unsustainable world with a higher population, more resource consumption, more waste, and more poverty, but with less biodiversity, less forest area, less available fresh water, less fertile soil, and less stratospheric ozone. The environmental problems that threaten us stem mainly from material wealth and problems related to hazardous chemicals. Other characteristics of misuse of resources include overconsumption, dumping, and inefficient or unsustainable use of materials. In the United States, Germany, and Holland, 85 tons of natural resources are consumed per capita per year (total material requirements1), while in Japan the total is 45 tons. Even in Japan, whose resource productivity is almost double that of other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, recycling rates of nonferrous metals are still low, being 54%, 66%, 20%, 66%, and 28% for Al, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd, respectively. Recycled metals as a percentage of total metal consumption in Canada are 45%, 43%, 32%, 55%, 19%, and 50% for iron and steel, Cu, Al, Pb, Zn, and stainless steel, respectively. Roughly speaking, almost 50% of metals are thrown away in OECD countries after use.
MRS BULLETIN/NOVEMBER 2001
All natural carriers such as the air, ocean, lakes, groundwater, and soil have a certain carrying capacity for pollutants. But emission of CO2 into the air probably exceeds its carrying capacity. For many decades, the main focus of concern was on the risk to health and safety posed by pollution and particular discharges into specific environmental media. It was soon realized that dilution is no solution to pollution. Many pollutants have been found to be highly toxic even in very low quantities, while some chemicals retain their toxicity for a very long period and accumulate in organic matter, water, and the food chain. Thus abatement technologies focused on collection and treatment of pollutants by “end-of-pipe” control. Since the rise in awareness of global ecological problems, the emphasis in pollution-control policy for industry has shifted away from endof-pipe treatments and controls to waste prevention at the source and life-cycle engineering of products. Life-cycle engineering demands total management of products throughout their manufacture, use, and disposal. Designing for the environment, sometimes called ecodesign, involves drawing a blueprint of the life cycle of a product. Materials selection is one of the key elements of eco-design. Life-cycle assessment, or LCA, is a tool for evaluating, clarifying, and quantifying the environmental effect
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