Lead, Cadmium and Mercury Flow Analysis – Decision Support for Austrian Environmental Policy

Abstract

This paper discusses the support for environmental policy decisions that can be provided by substance flow analysis (SFA). Flows and stocks of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg) are investigated through the Austrian economy and environment. Two advantages of SFA are emphasized: first, because SFA is based on the law of conservation of mass, input and output flows of processes have to be balanced. This balancing principle allows identifying data gaps and contradicting information supplied by different sources, and helps to calculate missing data. Second and most important for environmental policy making, SFA gives the whole picture and full transparency. It is instrumental in showing the combined effect of different environmental policy measures such as integrated product policy, consumer protection, emission control, and waste management on the economy of a country and its environment. SFA also helps to identify hot spots for which additional measures are required to reduce environmental pressure or to make use of secondary anthropogenic stocks. SFA results must be carefully interpreted in order to distinguish between beneficial and harmful flows and stocks, e. g. when materials are recycled that contain large amounts of hazardous heavy metals. For a comprehensive base to design future environmental policy, quantitative SFA needs to be amended by qualitative information, and by additional assessment tools.