Abstract
Around 40% of global raw materials that are extracted every year accumulate as in-use stocks in the form of buildings, infrastructure, transport equipment, and other durable goods. Material inflows to in-use stocks are a key component in the circularity transition, since the reintegration of those materials back into the economy, at the end of the stock's life cycle, means that less extraction of raw materials is required. Thus, understanding the geographical, material, and sectoral distribution of material inflows to in-use stocks globally is crucial for circular economy policies. Here we quantify the geographical, material, and sectoral distributions of material inflows to in-use stocks of 43 countries and 5 rest-of-the-world regions in 2011, using the global, multiregional hybrid units input–output database EXIOBASE v3.3. Among all regions considered, China shows the largest amount of material added to in-use stocks in 2011 (around 46% of global material inflows to in-use stocks), with a per capita value that is comparable to high income regions such as Europe and North America. In these latter regions, more than 90% of in-use stock additions are comprised of non-metallic minerals (e.g., concrete, brick/stone, asphalt, and aggregates) and steel. We discuss the importance of understanding the distribution and composition of materials accumulated in society for a circularity transition. We also argue that future research should integrate the geographical and material resolution of our results into dynamic stock-flow models to determine when these materials will be available for recovery and recycling. This article met the requirements for a Gold-Gold JIE data openness badge described in http://jie.click/badges
Highlights
Global resource extraction has increased from 7 gigatonnes (Gt) in 1900 to 89 Gt in 2015 (Fishman et al, 2016; Haas et al, 2020)
While high income countries such as the United States, Japan, and countries in the European Union accumulated around one quarter of global stock additions (7.3 Gt), the material inflows to in-use stocks in lower middle and lower income economies constituted 10% (2.9 Gt)
We recommend that follow-up research should consider developing time series of a multiregional hybrid units input–output table (MR-HIOT) framework so that a data set is created that works in the same way as dynamic material stock-flow models
Summary
Global resource extraction has increased from 7 gigatonnes (Gt) in 1900 to 89 Gt in 2015 (Fishman et al, 2016; Haas et al, 2020). The materials stored in in-use stocks can in principle be reintroduced into the economy as secondary materials when these stocks reach their endof-life (Lanau et al, 2019; Mayer et al, 2018; Pauliuk & Müller, 2014) This reintroduction would be in line with the paradigm of a circular economy (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015; Kirchherr et al, 2017), according to which such a reintroduction would lead to a decrease in primary resource extraction, waste, and emissions (Aguilar-Hernandez et al, 2018; Mayer et al, 2018). Several governments have encouraged the implementation of circular economy measures in order to promote resource efficiency as well as sustainable production and consumption (McDowall et al, 2017) Most of these policy measures, for example, those proposed in the Circular Economy Action Plan by the European Commission (EC 2020), do not pay attention to inflows to and outflows from in-use stocks as a potential avenue to promote circularity. Keeping track of such material flows is essential for understanding the potential for a circularity transition (Pauliuk et al, 2012; Stahel & Clift, 2015)
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