13 Information Flow System for Chemicals in Products (CiP) …
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contrast to these systems, chemSHERPA does not adopt the so-called “full material
declaration” (FMD) system.
Third, responsible information handling is expected based on the SC Partnership
Basic Guidelines (JAMP 2016), which state that chemSHERPA is not mandatory but
voluntary. These guidelines require data transfer without any omission or deletion
of information, as well as authorisation before delivery. Consequently, they support
and promote the credibility of chemSHERPA.
13.3.3 The Missing Element in ChemSHERPA
What is missing from, but imperative for chemSHERPA? As described in Sect. 13.2,
from a CM perspective, we found that information systems such as chemSHERPA
neglect the final disposal stage, which is obviously included in the SAICM goals.
From the CE perspective, however, we make two points. First, the goal of zero
waste cannot be realised easily by the CE. Recycling will always require energy
and create waste and by-products owing to the second law of thermodynamics
(Korhonen et al. 2018). Moreover, optimising production systems to close material
loops completely requires a rigid coupling of diverse processes of material conversion
in different companies and countries, now and in the (far) future. Thus, successful
examples of this kind of design are difficult to find at this moment (Skene 2018; Man
and Friege 2016). As a result, the CE cannot be accomplished completely, and zero
waste is not easily achieved, either theoretically or practically. This means that the
final waste management is still required, even if we act for the CE.
Second, the concept of the CE does not always consider the social dimension of
the three pillars of sustainability. In an analysis by Kirchherr et al. (Yuan et al. 2006),
only 18–20% of the examined CE articles mentioned the social dimension of SD,
while 46% referred to the economic dimension. That is, the CE is “virtually silent
on the social dimension” (Murray et al. 2017), whereas this dimension is explicit
in SD. This may be deemed to be a kind of warning and is closely tied to the first
point. Improper final waste handling often generates social issues such as risks to
human health or inequalities and regional disparities related to such risks. In other
words, in the case of Japan, lacking the social dimension leads to destroying human
well-being especially in depopulated areas and expands disparities further. Hence,
we should pay adequate attention to the social dimension and construct a “closed
loop”, remembering that hazardous chemicals disposal is to be avoided remains.
To summarise, there is a risk that the CE itself is unable to cope with social issues
accompanied by the final waste management, although waste will be still generated
despite the implementation of the CE. Nevertheless, chemSHERPA has no final waste
disposal part. Consequently, we believe that we should modify chemSHERPA, adding
the final waste disposal part to remedy this shortcoming that may exist even when
the CE is implemented. This is the missing but imperative part of chemSHERPA. In
the following section, we attempt to analyse each country’s disposal law to propose
a modification of chemSHERPA from a legal perspective.
197
contrast to these systems, chemSHERPA does not adopt the so-called “full material
declaration” (FMD) system.
Third, responsible information handling is expected based on the SC Partnership
Basic Guidelines (JAMP 2016), which state that chemSHERPA is not mandatory but
voluntary. These guidelines require data transfer without any omission or deletion
of information, as well as authorisation before delivery. Consequently, they support
and promote the credibility of chemSHERPA.
13.3.3 The Missing Element in ChemSHERPA
What is missing from, but imperative for chemSHERPA? As described in Sect. 13.2,
from a CM perspective, we found that information systems such as chemSHERPA
neglect the final disposal stage, which is obviously included in the SAICM goals.
From the CE perspective, however, we make two points. First, the goal of zero
waste cannot be realised easily by the CE. Recycling will always require energy
and create waste and by-products owing to the second law of thermodynamics
(Korhonen et al. 2018). Moreover, optimising production systems to close material
loops completely requires a rigid coupling of diverse processes of material conversion
in different companies and countries, now and in the (far) future. Thus, successful
examples of this kind of design are difficult to find at this moment (Skene 2018; Man
and Friege 2016). As a result, the CE cannot be accomplished completely, and zero
waste is not easily achieved, either theoretically or practically. This means that the
final waste management is still required, even if we act for the CE.
Second, the concept of the CE does not always consider the social dimension of
the three pillars of sustainability. In an analysis by Kirchherr et al. (Yuan et al. 2006),
only 18–20% of the examined CE articles mentioned the social dimension of SD,
while 46% referred to the economic dimension. That is, the CE is “virtually silent
on the social dimension” (Murray et al. 2017), whereas this dimension is explicit
in SD. This may be deemed to be a kind of warning and is closely tied to the first
point. Improper final waste handling often generates social issues such as risks to
human health or inequalities and regional disparities related to such risks. In other
words, in the case of Japan, lacking the social dimension leads to destroying human
well-being especially in depopulated areas and expands disparities further. Hence,
we should pay adequate attention to the social dimension and construct a “closed
loop”, remembering that hazardous chemicals disposal is to be avoided remains.
To summarise, there is a risk that the CE itself is unable to cope with social issues
accompanied by the final waste management, although waste will be still generated
despite the implementation of the CE. Nevertheless, chemSHERPA has no final waste
disposal part. Consequently, we believe that we should modify chemSHERPA, adding
the final waste disposal part to remedy this shortcoming that may exist even when
the CE is implemented. This is the missing but imperative part of chemSHERPA. In
the following section, we attempt to analyse each country’s disposal law to propose
a modification of chemSHERPA from a legal perspective.