Classification of physical flows:
points for discussion
UNSD
13th Meeting of the London Group
(Brussels, 29 September – 3 October)
Background
• SEEA-2003: natural resources, ecosystem inputs, products, and residuals.
• 3 separate classifications of flows:
1 NR + EI (following asset classification)
2 Products (CPC)
3 Residuals (solid waste [EWC-Stat] + air emissions + emission to water,
dissipative use/loss + balancing items)
• LG meeting Rome 2007:
• waste products (market value) and waste residuals (no market value)
• align CPC with EWC-Stat
assumptions: CPC is restricted to products where
products are defined as having postive value
Important to understand underlying principles and definitions used in the
classifications in CPC and EWC-Stat
CPC (1)
• Covers all products that can be the object of transactions or that can enter
into stocks
• In general follows the definition of products within the SNA
• result of production; exchanged and used for various purposes; inputs
in the production of other goods and services as final consumption or
for investment (2008 SNA para 2.36)
• Categories of CPC are both exhaustive and mutually exclusive
• Classification based on physical properties and intrinsic nature
• raw materials of which goods are made
• stage of production
• ways in which goods are produced or services rendered,
• purpose or user category for which products are intended
• prices at which they are sold.
CPC (2)
Division: 39 - Wastes or scraps
Breakdown: This Division is divided into the following Groups:
• 391 - Wastes from food and tobacco industry
• 392 - Non-metal wastes or scraps
• 393 - Metal wastes or scraps
• 399 - Other wastes and scraps
This Group is divided into the following Classes:
• 3991 - Municipal waste
• 3992 - Sewage sludge
• 3993 - Clinical waste, including pharmaceutical waste
• 3994 - Waste organic solvents
• 3995 - Wastes from chemical or allied industries
• 3999 - Other wastes n.e.c.
CPC (3)
• CPC broader than what is defined as „product“ (positive value) in the
SEEA-2003
• CPC includes waste that is the result of consumption e.g. municipal waste,
sludge etc.. The main reason is to maintain complete link to HS
• No reference is made to commercial or market value in defining products:
• The SNA recognizes that some products are transacted at economically
insignificant prices (e.g. water): positive price cannot be a necessary
condition to be a product
• During the development of the CPC rev2 it was decided to keep the
value discussion outside the CPC scope
• EU: “it is immaterial to the legal definition of waste whether a substance
or object may have a commercial value or is capable of economic
reutilization" (Case C-359/88 [1990] ECR I-1509)
Do our assumptions hold?
Residuals in SEEA-2003
There is no agreed definition of residuals (or waste) in the SEEA2003
• A: Residuals are all the outflows from the economy which use
environmental media as a disposal sink (para 1.67);
• B: Residuals are the incidental and undesired outputs from the
economy which generally have no economic value and may be
recycled, stored within the economy or (more usually at
present) discharged into the environment (para. 2.31)
The current SEEA-2003 classification mixes A [outflows to the
environment] and B [flows within economy + outflows to the
environment]
Waste seems to refer to either a subset of residuals (solid) or to
those residuals that have the destination land
EWC-Stat
•
•
•
Substance oriented statistical classification of waste as well as a
classification of treatment (recycling, disposal etc.)
An aggregation of the European List of Waste (LoW)
„Waste refer here to materials that are not prime products (i.e. products
produced for the market) for which the generator has no further use for
own purpose of production, transformation or consumption, and which he
discards, or intends or is required to discard. Wastes may be generated
during the extraction of raw materials during the processing of raw
materials to intermediate and final products, during the consumption of
final products, and during any other human activity. Are excluded:
residuals directly recycled or reused at the place of generation (i.e.
establishment); waste materials that are directly discharged into ambient
water or air.”
EWC-Stat (2)
Waste
EWC-Stat
Residuals
By-products
Waste residuals
LG?
Waste
Waste products
Different use of the word ‘residual’
Different use of the word waste
Also coverage can be different (incidental and undesired vs no further use
for own purpose)
Possible solutions:
• Tighten definition of residuals and waste:
• A: Use EWC-Stat definitions and
classifications
• B: Tighten existing definition B
• C: Define residuals explicitly as flows
from the economy to the environment
Option C (1)
env.-eco
within eco
eco-env.
‘Inputs’
‘Throughputs’
‘Outputs’
CPC +
Additional
Materials
CPC
(including
flows into
ISIC 37, 38, 39
CPC (waste to
uncontrolled
landfill) +
air emissions
dissipative use
Option C (2)
Advantages:
• Complete alignment with MFA
• No inconsistencies
• As multipurpose system, need to develop
correspondences with EWC-Stat (both ‘supply to
ISIC 38’ and ‘use by ISIC 38’) but SEEA 2012 not
in jeopardy if not ready on time
• Would simplify SUTs
Disadvantages
• Waste accounts based on CPC
Questions to the LG
•
•
•
•
Does the LG agree that the definition of residuals should be
tightened to flows from the economy to the environment i.e. with
respect to the boundary?
Does the LG agree that the CPC is capable of capturing all
physical flows within the economy both products and residuals?
Does the LG agree that CPC categories of waste are also used
in the classification of residuals as ‘solid waste to uncontrolled
landfill’ instead of a classification based on the EWC-Stat?
Does the LG see value added in developing one single list of
materials (CPC with add-on)?