253
China (Zhou et al. 2013 ), in Japan (Nakamura et al. 2009 ), and in Sweden (Tukker
et al. 1997 ; Kleijn et al. 2000 ); and fl ows of waste tires in China (Yang et al. 2010 ),
Thailand (Jacob et al. 2014 ) and in small island developing states (Sarkar et al.
2011 ).
Implementing MFA of plastics is not easy because many plastics, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, are used in a variety of products, from construction to
consumer products, whose lifetimes are different. Therefore, input-output analysis
has been applied to estimate fl ows of plastics (Joosten et al. 2000 ; Nakamura et al.
2009 ; Yang et al. 2010 ).
2.7 Spatial System Boundaries
Amongst the body of studies targeting countries and cities are a number with interesting system boundaries.
For example, many islands face waste issues because of their limited availability of land for waste disposal as well as constrained availability of physical
material resources. Therefore, research on waste fl ows has been performed for
some small island states (Eckelman and Chertow 2009 ; Sarkar et al. 2011 ;
Eckelman et al. 2014 ). An island is also a useful system for industrial ecology
studies as it is a valuable unit of study for biological sciences (Deschenes and
Chertow 2004 ).
Industrial ecosystems are another example, where one company’s waste becomes
another company’s feedstock. Many studies have been undertaken in the fi eld of
industrial symbiosis research (see Chap. 5 ). For example, Lyons ( 2007 ) examined
the issue of geographic scale and loop closing for heterogeneous wastes through an
analysis of the location and materials fl ows of a set of recycling, remanufacturing,
and waste treatment fi rms in Texas and showed that there was no preferable scale at
which loop closing should be organized.
A process of waste treatment can also be the subject of MFA . For example,
Chancerel et al. ( 2009 ) assessed precious metal fl ows during preprocessing of waste
electrical and electronic equipment and showed that only 11.5 % of the silver and
25.6 % of the gold and of the palladium reach output fractions from which they can
potentially be recovered.
International transfer of e-waste has been a major concern. Therefore, MFA has
also been applied to international trade of secondhand products (Kahhat and
Williams 2009 , 2012 ; Yoshida and Terazono 2010 ; Breivik et al. 2014 ). Such trade
can be seen as the trade of metals contained in the products. Fuse et al. ( 2009 ) estimated global fl ows of metal resources in the used automobile trade.
12 Material Flow Analysis and Waste Management
China (Zhou et al. 2013 ), in Japan (Nakamura et al. 2009 ), and in Sweden (Tukker
et al. 1997 ; Kleijn et al. 2000 ); and fl ows of waste tires in China (Yang et al. 2010 ),
Thailand (Jacob et al. 2014 ) and in small island developing states (Sarkar et al.
2011 ).
Implementing MFA of plastics is not easy because many plastics, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, are used in a variety of products, from construction to
consumer products, whose lifetimes are different. Therefore, input-output analysis
has been applied to estimate fl ows of plastics (Joosten et al. 2000 ; Nakamura et al.
2009 ; Yang et al. 2010 ).
2.7 Spatial System Boundaries
Amongst the body of studies targeting countries and cities are a number with interesting system boundaries.
For example, many islands face waste issues because of their limited availability of land for waste disposal as well as constrained availability of physical
material resources. Therefore, research on waste fl ows has been performed for
some small island states (Eckelman and Chertow 2009 ; Sarkar et al. 2011 ;
Eckelman et al. 2014 ). An island is also a useful system for industrial ecology
studies as it is a valuable unit of study for biological sciences (Deschenes and
Chertow 2004 ).
Industrial ecosystems are another example, where one company’s waste becomes
another company’s feedstock. Many studies have been undertaken in the fi eld of
industrial symbiosis research (see Chap. 5 ). For example, Lyons ( 2007 ) examined
the issue of geographic scale and loop closing for heterogeneous wastes through an
analysis of the location and materials fl ows of a set of recycling, remanufacturing,
and waste treatment fi rms in Texas and showed that there was no preferable scale at
which loop closing should be organized.
A process of waste treatment can also be the subject of MFA . For example,
Chancerel et al. ( 2009 ) assessed precious metal fl ows during preprocessing of waste
electrical and electronic equipment and showed that only 11.5 % of the silver and
25.6 % of the gold and of the palladium reach output fractions from which they can
potentially be recovered.
International transfer of e-waste has been a major concern. Therefore, MFA has
also been applied to international trade of secondhand products (Kahhat and
Williams 2009 , 2012 ; Yoshida and Terazono 2010 ; Breivik et al. 2014 ). Such trade
can be seen as the trade of metals contained in the products. Fuse et al. ( 2009 ) estimated global fl ows of metal resources in the used automobile trade.
12 Material Flow Analysis and Waste Management