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The STREAMS method, a method for material flow analysis based on national supply and use tables, is examined in an assessment of the flows of plastics in The Netherlands, for the reference year 1990. The method proves to be a powerful tool to get a total overview of plastic flows in The Netherlands. Using the method, it is possible to obtain a highly detailed view on the final consumption of materials, for which hitherto only highly aggregated estimates were available. With theSTREAMS method, total final plastics consumption in The Netherlands in the year 1990 is calculated at 1260 kt, which fairly matches otherestimates in literature. The STREAMS method also provides information on the final consumption of plastics on lower aggregation levels, e.g. the final consumption of plastics divided between industry sectors, split up between packaging, components and final products. Our calculations show that with regard to plastics in The Netherlands, apparent consumption, calculated as raw materials production plus imports minus exports, although easily calculable, is a rather poor approximation for final consumption. Several issues that affect the accuracy of the results of the STREAMS method are discussed and estimates are made of their contributions to the mean deviation of the results. Total mean deviation is calculated at +/-30% for results presented on lower aggregation levels. On higher aggregation levels the accuracy of the results is much higher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About 40% of the global primary energy use and emission of CO2 is related to the production of materials. In this study we investigate the potential and cost-effectiveness of CO2 emission reduction by means of improved management of material use for transport packaging in Western Europe. Measures for improved use of transport packaging material are identified and evaluated. A supply curvefor CO2-emission reduction is presented based on data about the use of transport packaging in 1995. We show that technically it seems possible to reduce the CO2 emissions related to the production and use of transport packaging in 1995 by 40% when new packaging technology is implemented that is expected to become available between 1995 and 2010. In this reduction figure, improvement of energy efficiency in material production processes and changes in packaging demand are not taken into account. Most evaluated measures can be implemented cost-effectively, when taking life-cycle costs into account. This would result in a CO2 emission reduction of 34%. Evaluation of the measures shows that a 12% reduction of CO2 emissions related to transport packaging is possible by using lighter packages. Material substitution can lead to a reduction also of12%. From a CO2 emission reduction point of view, the most promising improvements are large changes in the packaging system like substitution of single use packaging by re-usable packaging. This may lead to a 16% reduction in CO2 emissions. However, large-scale introduction of this option may be hindered by the complexity of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current production structures require large amounts of primary materials and are not likely to be sustained without large implications for the environment. A good understanding of societal metabolism is likely to contribute to more sustainable production and consumption. Material flow analysis (MFA) intends to support this understanding by providing insight in material flows. In this article a new method for analyzing materials flows, called STREAMS, is tested. The method is applied to analyze the paper and wood flow through the economic system of The Netherlands. The method is based on data available from the so-called supply and use tables; these tables are made available by Statistics Netherlands and describe the economy of a country in terms ofannual supply and use of goods and services by industries and consumers. The method proves to be very useful in analyzing the paper and wood flow in The Netherlands. The method provides detailed informationabout the final consumption of paper and wood, even for packaging materials and product parts made out of paper and wood. Trends are visible that statistical offices collect less physical data about material flows. This will make the construction of material flow analyses like this one more difficult in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the development of material, product and waste oriented policies, knowledge about the flow, use and disposal of materials through society is necessary. The risks of taking policy measures leading to suboptimum solutions of environmental problems call for an integral survey of material flows through society. However, up to now, integral analyses of physical material flows have been lacking. Problems such asdifferences in definitions, in subdivisions of flows and in reference years make it difficult to relate data from different sources to obtain an overall view. In this article, STREAMS, a new method to calculate physical material flows through society, is proposed. The methodis based on the so-called supply and use tables, which describe a country's economy in terms of supply and use of materials, products andservices by industries, service sectors and consumers. In our approach, materials and products are tracked on their way from extraction of raw materials to the final consumption of products and beyond, intothe stage of waste. The method has the advantage of deriving almost all data from one source. In this article the method is described. Ina separate study, the method is applied to obtain an integral surveyof the flow of plastics through The Netherlands, showing that the method can be used to assess the final materials consumption on a highly detailed level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential for optimizing, in both economic and energetic terms, the final waste treatment system in the Netherlands is evaluated in the light of the performance of new technologies. Projections of the final waste supply and waste treatment technologies are combined to construct several scenarios for waste treatment in the year 2010. Technologies include processes currently in the demonstration or pilot phase. It is concluded that final waste treatment could be performed at lower cost and with substantially greater energy recovery than at present. In a minimum cost scenario, the final waste treatment might cost 300/600 MECU/year, compared to 1000/1600 MECU/year in a reference scenario, on the assumption that conventional, but improved waste treatment technologies are used. A maximum energy recovery scenario mightsave 80/90 PJ primary energy per year compared to 39/47 PJ/year for the reference case. Two major competing technologies are gasification, both for biomass waste and integral waste, and fluidized bed incineration. Further development of these technologies integrated with electricity production is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]