5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
Environmental Assessment
Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
5.2 Eco Design
5.3 Mass Flow Analysis
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) atau Analisis Siklus Hidup. Berikutnya
akan diperkenalkan gagasan tentang
Eco-design, yang merupakan suatu aplikasi praktis dari pemikiran
siklus hidup didalam disain produk.
Material Flow Analysis (MFA), yang merupakan suatu instrumen
untuk mengetahui aliran material/bahan dan energi. MFA
digunakan pada penelitian-penelitian pada tingkat global, regional
dan lokal, serta pengelolaan sampah (padat) regional, misalnya
untuk meganalisis zat-zat berbahaya.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Analysis of Environmental, Financial and
Social Impacts throughout the Life-cycle of
Products and Processes
• LCA merupakan suatu teknik yang
digunakan untuk mengukur aspek-aspek
lingkungan yang terkait dengan suatu
produk, suatu proses pembuatannya,
ataupun ‘layanan’ yang diberikan oleh
produk tersebut selama siklus hidupnya.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
• Aplikasi-aplikasi yang paling penting antara lain
• (1) analisis kontribusi tahapan-tahapan siklus hidup
terhadap beban lingkungan keseluruhan, biasanya
dengan tujuan untuk memprioritaskan pada perbaikanperbaikan produk atau proses dan
• (2) membandingkan antar produk untuk komunikasi
internal.
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Siklus Hidup Kapas
Saling Terkait satu
sama lain
5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Contoh dari Implementasi LCA didalam Industri.
Suatu industri mempertimbangkan penambahan satu tahap
proses lagi terhadap lini produknya. Industri tersebut
memiliki pilihan antara Mesin A ataukah Mesin B.
Kedua mesin memerlukan penambahan beberapa bahan
kimia dalam mendukung operasinya, masing-masing
menggunakan tenaga yang sama per unit waktu operasi.
Mesin manakah yang sebaiknya dipilih untuk industri ini jika
didasarkan kepada pengaruh lingkungannya?
Life Cycle of Product Systems (Source:
USEPA, 2006. Life Cycle Assessment:
Principles and Practice, Cincinnati, Ohio
report no. 45268
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Tabel dampak lingkungan dari kedua mesin, yang disajikan
dalam Eco-points. Unit-unit ini dibuat dengan analisis LCA
lingkungan untuk mengukur kategori-kategori dampak
lingkungan yang berbeda, seperti perubahan iklim,
toksisitas dan penipisan ozon.
Mesin
Dampak yang ditimbulkan selama konstruksi
A
B
210
185
20
24
6
4
15
10
(Ecopoints)
Dampak dari bahan kimia, penggunaan energi,
pemeliharaan (Ecopoints/year)
Dampak pembuangannya setelah digunakan
Life Cycle of Product Systems (Source:
USEPA, 2006. Life Cycle Assessment:
Principles and Practice, Cincinnati, Ohio
report no. 45268
(Ecopoints.)
Umur Penggunaannya (years)
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
The Concept of LCA (2)
• Some products have a dominating environmental
load in production, some in use, some in disposal:
80
70
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Production
Use
Disposal
Production
Use
Disposal
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Production
Use
Disposal
Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
books, furniture, art etc.
cars, television, airco etc.
Ni-Cd batteries, household
chemicals, fireworks etc.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (1)
Life cycle assessment framework
(1) Mendefinisikan tujuan
dan
ruang lingkup kajian;
(2) membuat model siklus hidup
produk dengan semua inflow
dan outflow lingkungan. Tahap
ini sering diistilahkan sebagai
tahap life cycle inventory (LCI);
(3) memahami
relevansi
lingkungan dari semua inflow
dan outflow, tahap ini sering
disebut dengan tahap life cycle
impact assessment (LCIA) dan
(4) interpretasi penelitian. Diagram
berikut menunjukkan kerangka
kerja ini yang sesuai dengan
standar-standar LCA dari ISO.
Goal
and scope
definition
Direct applications:
Inventory
analysis
Interpretation
-
Product development
and improvement
-
Strategic planning
-
Public policy making
-
Marketing
-
Other
Impact
assessment
The official LCA framework
according to the International
Standards: ISO 14040:2006 and
ISO 14044:2006
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (2), Goal and Scope
Suatu model LCA merupakan model sistem teknis kompleks
yang digunakan untuk memproduksi, memindahkan,
menggunakan, dan membuang suatu produk.
Suatu model adalah penyederhanaan dari suatu realitas, yang
mengimplikasikan bahwa realitas akan terdistorsi dalam
beberapa cara dan hasil-hasilnya tidak terpercaya.
Cara terbaik untuk menghindari salah paham atau akurasi
parsial adalah dengan mendefinisikan tujuan dan ruang
lingkup LCA anda secara hati-hati. Didalam tujuan dan
ruang lingkup, akan digambarkan tentang pilihan-pilihan
yang paling penting (yang seringkali bersifat subyektif).
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (3), Goal and Scope
• Definition of functional unit, initial system boundaries and procedural
aspects
 Functional unit: comparison of products on the basis of equivalent
function, for example: comparison of 2 packaging systems for 1000
litres of milk by (a) 1000 disposable cartons or (b) 100 reusable bottles;
instead of comparison of 1 carton and 1 bottle.
 Functional unit is basis for comparison
?
=
“Compare
environmental
impacts of
packaging of 1000
litres milk in carton
packages or glass
bottles”
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (5), Inventory
Pengumpulan Data
Example of Product system and Inventory Table
electricity
steel
plastic
incineration
production
distribution
use
reuse
recycling
dump
LCI table with environmental
interventions
Crude oil
from earth
40000 kg
CO2 to air
3500
SO2 to air
20 kg
NOx to air
100 kg
Cd to water
5g
PAH to
water
8 kg
Etc.
…….
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (9), Impact assessment
Pengukuran Dampak
Category indicators are quantifiable representations of impact categories (ISO) and are
defined according standards, such as CML-IA, Eco indicator 99, Impact 2002+ etc.)
Intervention
CO2
P
SO2
NOx
DDT
Dust
Effect
Greenhouse effect
Eutrophication
Acidification
Damage to
Eco-systems
Pesticides
Indicator
Winter smog
VOC
Summer smog
Cd
Heavy metals
PAH
CFC
Damage
Damage to
human health
Carconogenics
Ozone layer depl.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (8), Impact assessment:
Pengukuran Dampak
• Steps: Characterization, Classification and Normalization:
 Determine which LCI results contribute to which impact category, e.g. CO2 and
CH4 to climate change
 Multiply environmental interventions (resources, emissions etc.) from LCI with a
characterisation factor to get indicator results
 Normalize to understand the relative magnitude of the indicator results and to get
dimensionless score (useful for comparison)
Cat. Indicator result (kg CO2 equivalent)
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (10), Interpretation
• “Phase of life cycle assessment in which the findings of either the
inventory analysis or the impact assessment, or both, are combined
consistent with the defined goal and scope in order to reach
conclusions and recommendations” (ISO)
• To interpret an LCA, you must check the goal and scope:
 Are the the general assumptions reasonable?
 Is the functional unit well chosen?
 Are ISO standards applied?
 Has a peer review been conducted?
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Methodology of LCA (10), Interpretation
• Conduct a sensitivity analysis: analyze the impact of important
choices or assumptions
 What if other allocations are applied.
 What if other boundaries are applied.
 What if other impact assessment method is used.
• By recalculating the LCA with other assumptions, we can verify how
the conclusions connect with the assumptions.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (1)
• LCA is often associated with environmental impacts, but
scope can be extended to include economic and social
impacts.
• Financial LCA = Life Cycle Costing (LCC);
• Analysis of life cycle costs
• Social LCA
• Social impacts throughout life cycle of products and
processes
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (2)
• What are the costs and revenues incured during the
life cycle of a product or process?
•
•
•
•
•
R&D
Production
Marketing
Sales
Etc.
• Sometimes external costs included as well (costs that
are ‘imposed’ on society or the environment):
• Monetary valuation of environmental LCI and LCIA
results…but is it possible to monetise all environmental
services?
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.1 Life Cycle Analysis
Extending the scope of Environmental LCA (3)
• Social LCA analyses social impacts, such as employment
and health:




Job quality
Quality physical health
Quality social health
Earthly possessions
• Challenging to model social life cycle impacts, because
social conditions do change more rapidly




impacts from changes in employment conditions may dissipate
emotions resulting from changes disappear with time
diseases get cured
people who are laid off may find new jobs)
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
5.2 Eco-Design
Life Cycle Thinking within the Design of
Products and Processes
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Contents
• What is Eco-Design?
• Implications for the Design Process.
• Consequences for Composition and Amount of Solid
Waste.
• Related Concepts: Design for Environment, Sustainable
Product Design.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
What is Eco-Design?
Eco-design merupakan suatu instrumen
prosedural untuk pembuatan keputusan
lingkungan, yang secara khusus mengarah
kepada disain dari produk dan proses.
Eco-design ditujukan untuk memperbaiki kinerja
lingkungan dan bisnis didalam pengembangan
produk dan proses. Eco-design
menggabungkan pemikiran siklus hidup
didalam mengidentifikasi kemungkinankemungkinan perbaikan lingkungan.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
What is Eco-Design?
Eco-design juga merupakan aplikasi logis dari eco-efficiency.
eco-efficiency didefinisikan sebagai kinerja fungsional dari
produk-produk pada siklus hidup yang dibagi kedalam
dampak-dampak lingkungan dari produk pada siklus
hidupnya.
Penurunan dampak lingkungan melalui efisiensi sumberdaya
dan penurunan tingkat penggunaan zat-zat berbahaya akan
menghasilkan rasio eco-efisiensi yang lebih baik. Aspekaspek penting dari eco-design yang berhubungan dengan
masalah sampah antara lain intensitas material yang
rendah, produk dengan penggunaan energi yang rendah
dan penggunaan bahan dengan dampak yang rendah.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Studi kasus/Latihan: Cangkir Keramik ataukah Mug dari Kertas?
(Kementrian Lingkungkan Hidup Indonesia) Manakah yang lebih ramah
lingkungan, cangkir berbahan keramik ataukah mug berbahan styrofoam?
Untuk menemukan jawabannya, maka penelitian harus mengukur siklus hidup
cangkir keramik tersebut, yaitu dari proses produksinya yang berupa
pemrosesan bahan mentah hingga tidak terpakai lagi dan dibuang ke tempat
sampah. Dalam hal ini diperlukan penghitungan konsumsi bahan mentah,
penggunaan energi (untuk pengolahan, transportasi dan pembersihan), output
bahan-bahan berbahaya ke air dan udara serta volume kotoran yang dihasilkan.
Penghitungan ini mengabaikan beberapa dampak lingkungan lain yang biasanya
bersifat lokal, seperti kebisingan, bau dan bahaya terhadap bentang alam
(landscape).
Cangkir dan piring keramik memiliki satu kekurangan: cangkir dan piring jenis ini
harus dicuci. Untuk mencuci cangkir dan piring keramik didalam dishwasher
(mesin pencuci piring) tentu memiliki dampak yang lebih besar terhadap air
daripada jika kita menggunakan cangkir atau piring sekali pakai. Bahan
surfactant didalam deterjen, yang selalu kita pakai
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (2)
•
The relative complex LCA procedure and the creative slightly chaotic design
process are not so easy to combine:
Problem
Idea
Decision
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (3)
Availability of
information on
the product
Freedom to
change the
design
Planning
Idea generation
Concept development Detailed design
Complexity of the Design Process
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Implications for the Design Process (4)
Design phase
Design activity
Product
planning
Target is defined as
product/market
combination
Refinement of target
and definition of
requirements
Analysis
LCA activity
LCA information
generated
Assessment of strategy
Strategic choices
LCA of reference
product
Design guidelines and
eco-indicators
Idea
generation
Creativity techniques
are used to generate
new solutions
Use of design rules
and eco-indicators
Pre-selection of ideas
Concept
Best ideas are selected
and elaborated
Short screenings and
what-if analysis
Support in concept
choices
Detailed
design
Best concept is
detailed; prototype and
CAD drawings
Specific questions and
issues
Support in detailed
design choices
Application of LCA results in Design for Environment
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (2)
• Eco-Design improves Eco-efficiency:
Functional performance provided by product over life cycle
Eco-efficiency =
Environmental Impacts of product over life cycle
eco-efficiency
=
resourceefficiency
+
reduction haz.
substances
applying Eco-efficiency results in Eco-products…
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Consequences for Composition and Amount of
Solid Waste (3)
Eco-products
Improved
material and
energy content
(quantity and
quality) in
products
Reduced solid waste
amount and
hazardousness
composition
Consequences for solid waste:
• Reduction of natural resource extractions (materials and energy)
• Reduction or elimination of hazardous materials within waste
• Reduction of toxic emissions during incineration
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Design for Environment
Related Concepts: Design for Environment,
Sustainable Product Design (1)
Design for Environment (DfE): “the systematic
consideration of design performance with respect to
environmental, health, and safety objectives over the full
product and process life cycle” (Fiksel, 1996 in Wrisberg et al. 2002).
DfE…
• focuses on existing products and processes that fulfil
a specific function (function-oriented systems)
• expands the design scope towards environmental and
social implications of products and processes
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.2 Eco-design
Sustainable Product Design
Related Concepts: Design for Environment,
Sustainable Product Design (2)
Sustainable Product Design: investigates possibilities for
improvement on a broader scale.
Examples:
• Alternative Function Fulfilment (changes the way in
which a specific function or need is fulfilled)
• System innovation (redesigning of product production
systems, creating ‘closed-loop’ economies etc.)
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
(MFA)
Analysis of Material Flows
in a Region
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
MFA
• suatu instrumen pengukuran yang menggabungkan
aspek-aspek sumberdaya dan polusi dari masalahmasalah lingkungan didalam perekonomian kita. Material
Flow Analysis (MFA
• MFA adalah suatu pengukuran sistematis dari aliranaliran bahan di suatu kawasan.
• Ada dua jenis MFA yaitu bulk-MFA atau b-MFA yang
difokuskan kepada aliran bahan (misalnya bahan-bahan
bangunan, produk sampah elektronik) dan yang kedua
adalah Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) yang bertujuan
untuk menganalisis aliran zat tunggal atau kelompok zat
(seperti logam berat, nitrogen organik).
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Ada dua jenis MFA
• bulk-MFA atau b-MFA yang difokuskan kepada aliran
bahan (misalnya bahan-bahan bangunan, produk
sampah elektronik)
• Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) yang bertujuan untuk
menganalisis aliran zat tunggal atau kelompok zat
(seperti logam berat, nitrogen organik).
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
MFA dan Pengelolaan Sampah Modern.
Definisi dan sasaran dari pengelolaan sampah terus
mengalami perubahan.
Pengelolaan sampah yang terorganisir muncul ketika manusia
mulai mengumpulkan sampah dan membuangnya. Apa yang
dilakukan ini merupakan langkah penting untuk menjaga
kebersihan dan membantu mencegah munculnya wabah
(epidemik) penyakit.
Masalah baru.
Pertama, (landfill) menyebabkan terjadi masalah polusi air
tanah dan menghasilkan gas-gas rumah kaca.
Kedua, lokasi landfill semakin langka pada kawasan-kawasan
berpenduduk padat. Bahkan Sanitary landfilling tidak bisa
memecahkan masalah-masalah ini dalam jangka panjang.
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
MFA dan Pengelolaan Sampah Modern.
Saat ini, pengelolaan sampah merupakan suatu konsep
terpadu yang terdiri dari praktik-praktik yang berbeda dan
pilihan perlakuan yang terdiri dari strategi pencegahan dan
pengumpulan; langkah-langkah terpisah untuk memproduksi
barang yang bisa didaur ulang atau pemrosesan berikutnya
dengan menggunakan teknologi pengolahan secara biologis,
fisika, kimiawi, dan thermal; dan jenis-jenis landfill yang
berbeda.
Setiap orang saat ini memiliki kesempatan-kesempatan (dan
juga tanggungjawab) untuk memisahkan antara kertas, kaca,
logam, bahan yang bisa terurai, plastik, sampah berbahaya,
dan bahan-bahan lainnya kedalam kelompoknya sendirisendiri. Tujuan dari pengelolaan sampah modern adalah
untuk:
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (1)
…hence, material flows and stocks from the economy are crucial
to the understanding of environmental problems
Material flows and
accumulations
Throughput
Throughput
Hazard
Hazard
potential
potential
Quantityaspect
Qualityaspect
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Why MFA? (2)
… and eventually solutions are based on an analysis of
environmental problems in material/physical terms (Van der Voet,
1996)
Natural
Resource
Depletion
Waste
Absorption
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Environment:
resource base
Extractions of
materials
Pollution
Environment:
waste sink
Quantitatively: lower materials throughput
Qualitatively: less hazardous materials
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
What is MFA? (1)
MFA is a tool for systematic research of flows and stocks of
materials from ‘cradle to grave’ (LCA!) in a region:
MFA is useful for:
•Identification of sources of environmental
pollution
•Identification of accumulations of
hazardous substances
•Identification of potential control points,
useful for environmental management
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
What is MFA? (2)
• MFA describes the industrial ‘metabolism’ of a region: the transfer,
storage and transformation of substances within an anthropogenic
(=human controlled) system and the exchange of these
substances with the environment (Brunner and Rechberger 2004).
• Examples:
 Sources, pathways and sinks for mercury in a watershed
 Nitrogen flows and stocks in the Malang area
• Sometimes MFA is applied on systems of smaller scale; for
example the flows and stocks of heavy metals in a waste
incineration plant
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Systematic analysis of regional material flows and
stocks
•
•
Systematic description of
Flows and Stocks of materials
in a region where activities in
the anthroposhere are taking
place
There is an exchange of
materials between and within
anthropogenic (economic)
and environmental
subsystems
Systematic overview of material flows in
a region
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Rationale of MFA: The Mass Balance Principle (1)
• Mass balance: the law of conservation of mass
• Mass output = Mass input + Mass accumulation
2
1
3
Xp-q: Material Flow from process ‘p’ to process ‘q’
• X0-1 = X1-2 + X1-3
• X1-2 = X2-0
• X1-3 = X3-0
• X0-1 = X2-0+ X3-0
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Advantages of applying Mass Balance Principle
1. Mass balances can be applied at different system levels:
• Single processes
• Complex combinations of processes at smaller and larger
scales:
 Household
 Country
 World
2. Valuable tool to calculate regional streams that are hardly
measurable, like in waste residual outputs (Ayres 1989).
3. Efficient way to obtain accurate results even when some data
are missing
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (1)
Problem
1
Goal and system
definition
2
Quantification of flows
and stocks
3
Interpretation
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (1)
1
Goal definition = selection of substance or material to be
investigated: single element (Substance Flow Analysis) or group
of substances (Material Flow Analysis)
System definition = definition of system boundaries and relevant
processes
a. Spatial boundary: Geographical or administrative boundary
(e.g. watershed or country)
b. Temporal boundary: Flows per hour or month or year. Often
1 year because of data availabillity
c. Selection of relevant processes: Only processes that are
significant to the substance(s) under investigation
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (2)
2
Quantification of stocks and flows:
 Calculate mass flows of goods that enter and leave
processes (measurements or applying mass balance)
 Calculate substance flows within these flows (multiplying
mass flows of goods with element concentrations)
 Calculate stocks: is there any type of accumulation
occuring?
Example of mass flow of goods and a substance (Cadmium) in a municipal
waste incinerator
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (3)
• Interpretation of results:
3
 What is the relative contribution of processes to certain flows?
 Where are hotspots and potential control points?
 Is there a possibility of problem shifting when certain flows will
be restricted?
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Framework of MFA (4)
• MFA is a cyclical process: start with provisional data and rough
estimations; refine and improve system until required data quality
is achieved
Systematic overview of MFA procedures
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA: resource management
• Analysis and planning of resources
• Identification of depletion and accumulation of
materials in society; forecasting of resource scarcities
and ‘secondary’ sources (recycling, landfills)
Example: natural resources are transformed to
‘anthropogenic’ resources; stocks in landfills
become important for future mining of
substances
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; resource management
• Resource study: Copper cycle in Asia
Copper cycle in Asia The units are Gg
Cu/year; Lith=Lithosphere
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; environmental management
• Identification of existence, size and fate of
hazardous substances in a region
• Identification of hotspots and control points
• Identification of problem shifts
Example (hypothetical): “A Material Flow Account of a harbour
substance
source
problem shift
watershed shows a large flow of mercury in wastewater.
Laboratories are relatively the largest contributors. In wastewater
treatment plants, absorption and deposition to sludge are a major
removal mechanism for mercury. When mercury flows in wastewater
are restricted by means of imposing advanced treatment technology
to wastewater treatment plants in the region, then mercury outflows
to landfills are likely to increase.”
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5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA in soil management
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5 – Environmental Assessment Tools
5.3 Material Flow Analysis
Applications of MFA; solid waste management
• MFA discerns between flows of ‘goods’ and ‘substances’
 Important because substances cause environmental
problems, while flows of substances can only be controlled
indirectly via flows of the goods that contain the substances.
 “It is not the good leachate of a landfill that imposes danger
to the groundwater. The danger resides in the cocktail of
hazardous substances in the leachate of the landfill.” (Brunner
and Rechberger 2004)
• MFA can identify appropriate recycling options
 Elemental composition of materials determine whether a
material is appropriate for recycling
• MFA identifies side-effects of recycling
 Accumulation of heavy metals in soils when sewage sludge
is used as agricultural fertilizer
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