OECD lists three steps for sustainable raw materials policy

Green public procurement, eco-labelling and producer responsibility were listed among possible policy options to reduce raw materials consumption in the manufacturing sector, amid growing pressure to decouple economic growth from rising natural resource use.

Lifecycle thinking should be integrated at the very early stages of a product's conception, the OECD argued at a global forum on sustainable materials management, held in Mechelen, Belgium, this week.

The concept can be applied to all manufacturing sectors – from mobile phones to car production and even agriculture – as a way to reduce materials consumption and ultimately boost profits.

Challenges

But complex interconnections between conflicting interests and jurisdictions make sustainable materials management a challenge for governments and companies alike.

The wood fibre life cycle, for example, ranges from forestry to paper recycling, while for metals, the life cycle spans from the mining sector to the recovery of waste from consumer electronic products – TVs, fridges or computers.

According to the OECD, one of the biggest challenges is the link between materials, energy and water. Elimination of toxic materials may for example inadvertently increase the consumption of energy or water, it notes.

Clarifying this "material-energy-water nexus" and analysing its implications is therefore crucial to reduce resource use, it argues.

Three steps

However, the OECD cautioned government against adopting measures too quickly, saying mapping the impacts of existing policies at each stage of a product's life cycle may reveal policy gaps that need to be addressed.

"The mix of existing policies may introduce conflicting or misleading incentives that lead to unintended consequences," the report cautions.

"For example, subsidies that favour the production of renewable biofuels may unintentionally increase the demand for water resources and drive up food prices," it says. After these initial assessments have been made, the OECD recommends countries to implement a three-pronged policy to reduce materials use:

• Public procurement: Using public authorities' purchasing power as a market-based instrument to green up the supply chain.
• Eco-labelling: Market behaviour can be influenced through eco-labelling schemes to help purchasers understand a product's environmental impact.
• Producer responsibility: Holding manufacturers accountable for the waste generated by their products at the end of their useful life.

Market-based policies the key

The OECD notes that policymakers need to do three things in parallel: decrease total material throughput, reduce the demand for resource consumption, and reduce the adverse impacts of material flows.

To do this, it supports using substitute materials or even restricting the availability of primary resources by putting a price on them.

A prime example is the EU's trading scheme for CO2 emissions, which places a cap on carbon emissions and allows companies to trade pollution permits. Others include pollution charges and government subsidy reduction schemes.

Global dimension

The interconnection of the global economy also implies that individual nations cannot pursue SMM in isolation, the OECD argues, suggesting a more active collaboration "for the community of nations to achieve sustainable and equitable economic growth over the long term".

Earlier this summer, EU environment ministers debated a study by the Belgian EU Presidency on sustainable materials management, which suggests moving from waste policies to "materials policies".

Such policies cover the full lifecycle of products and manufactured goods, from the extraction of raw materials to product design, manufacture, consumption and disposal, it said.

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