14 Small-Scale System Solutions—Material Flow Management …
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accelerated the pace of application of green [environmental] solutions globally in
recent decades.
To create any significant impact, such solutions need applications on different
levels and scales. Clearly, anthropogenic systems are complex and come in all shapes
and sizes (e.g. a business, a municipality, a political system, the European Union,
etc.). Systems are characterised by a system boundary and the flow/flux of material
and energy across and within the system boundary. Inputs such as raw materials and
energy, and outputs such as products, services and waste/emissions are inherent to
anthropogenic systems. These various inputs and outputs further distinguish various
systems. In dealing with complex anthropogenic systems, special attention should
also be paid to the output of money as a valuable resource, as many of the problems
originate from an incorrect allocation of money and the concurrent loss of economic
power and opportunities related to financial waste from systems (see Fig. 14.3).
Despite the lack of consensus on the definition of “small-scale systems”, in this
text, we focus on small-scale political and administrative systems such as villages,
municipalities and business entities such as farms, factories, SMEs, etc. Small-scale
systems play an important role in rural areas of the world, in particular by provisioning ecosystem services, clean water and healthy food. They also help to conserve
biodiversity and facilitate multifunctional land use, etc.
14.1.2 The Throughput Society and the SDGs
Currently, the predominant practice of resource management involves extracting,
making, using, and wasting/throwing away. This practice is denoted as the throughput
system (also known as the throughput metabolism). Accordingly, we can describe
present human society as “the throughput society” and the current global economy as
“the linear economy”. Characteristics of these systems include the massive input/use
of virgin resources, low levels of resource productivity/product efficiency, and the
generation of gargantuan amounts of emissions or unwanted by-products that are
usually termed waste. Thanks in large part to this throughput system of resource
management, “global primary material use, and thus global primary material extraction, is projected to double in the coming decades… from 79 Gt in 2011 to 167 Gt in
2060” (see Fig. 14.2).
2 From a land use perspective, this foresees a massive increase
in the use of valuable land resources for resource extraction, agriculture and urban
development, collectively resulting in permanent degradation of ecosystems due to,
among other things, the depositing of waste materials. From an anthropocentric point
of view, ecosystems are essential for provisioning (e.g. food and water) and regulatory (e.g. flood control, climate) services. To use them as waste deposits or sinks
leads to the loss of (sometimes irreversible) service capacity.
The constant bombardment of news about environmental calamity, resource
scarcity, social inequality, economic downturn, etc.—inevitable consequences of
2 Note: indicates the net effect of the three trends.
271
accelerated the pace of application of green [environmental] solutions globally in
recent decades.
To create any significant impact, such solutions need applications on different
levels and scales. Clearly, anthropogenic systems are complex and come in all shapes
and sizes (e.g. a business, a municipality, a political system, the European Union,
etc.). Systems are characterised by a system boundary and the flow/flux of material
and energy across and within the system boundary. Inputs such as raw materials and
energy, and outputs such as products, services and waste/emissions are inherent to
anthropogenic systems. These various inputs and outputs further distinguish various
systems. In dealing with complex anthropogenic systems, special attention should
also be paid to the output of money as a valuable resource, as many of the problems
originate from an incorrect allocation of money and the concurrent loss of economic
power and opportunities related to financial waste from systems (see Fig. 14.3).
Despite the lack of consensus on the definition of “small-scale systems”, in this
text, we focus on small-scale political and administrative systems such as villages,
municipalities and business entities such as farms, factories, SMEs, etc. Small-scale
systems play an important role in rural areas of the world, in particular by provisioning ecosystem services, clean water and healthy food. They also help to conserve
biodiversity and facilitate multifunctional land use, etc.
14.1.2 The Throughput Society and the SDGs
Currently, the predominant practice of resource management involves extracting,
making, using, and wasting/throwing away. This practice is denoted as the throughput
system (also known as the throughput metabolism). Accordingly, we can describe
present human society as “the throughput society” and the current global economy as
“the linear economy”. Characteristics of these systems include the massive input/use
of virgin resources, low levels of resource productivity/product efficiency, and the
generation of gargantuan amounts of emissions or unwanted by-products that are
usually termed waste. Thanks in large part to this throughput system of resource
management, “global primary material use, and thus global primary material extraction, is projected to double in the coming decades… from 79 Gt in 2011 to 167 Gt in
2060” (see Fig. 14.2).
2 From a land use perspective, this foresees a massive increase
in the use of valuable land resources for resource extraction, agriculture and urban
development, collectively resulting in permanent degradation of ecosystems due to,
among other things, the depositing of waste materials. From an anthropocentric point
of view, ecosystems are essential for provisioning (e.g. food and water) and regulatory (e.g. flood control, climate) services. To use them as waste deposits or sinks
leads to the loss of (sometimes irreversible) service capacity.
The constant bombardment of news about environmental calamity, resource
scarcity, social inequality, economic downturn, etc.—inevitable consequences of
2 Note: indicates the net effect of the three trends.