Contribution to inaccessibility as resource impact method: A base for sustainable resource management along the life cycle

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to present and demonstrate a proof of concept for a novel method that quantifies the impact of human activities that compromise the accessibility to the instrumental value of resources. It identifies ten key matrices along six life cycle stages. Starting from Time To Accessibility as a base, accessibility factors for resources are developed in function of the embedding matrix, scaled in between 0 and 1. The method provides value-based characterization factors for 45 resources as a Contribution To Inaccessibility - Life Cycle Impact Assessment (CTI-LCIA) method and involves price to capture the value. It points to hotspots along the life cycle (e.g. inaccessibility generation by storing in landfills and tailings deposits), the importance of process efficiencies, and the value of circular economy strategies. The latter is illustrated with a case study on four resources in a battery case study.