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  • 22-February-2016

    English

    Nanomaterials in Waste Streams - Current Knowledge on Risks and Impacts

    Nanotechnology is an emerging and promising field for advanced applications in industrial, commercial and medical sectors, and nanomaterials can be found today in sunscreens, deodorants and textiles. Yet these nanomaterials, which are increasing in number, are entering waste streams as part of end-of-life products along with conventional waste, without any real understanding of their environmental impacts or health risks on human beings and living organisms. This report provides a literature review on four specific waste treatment processes (recycling, incineration, landfilling and wastewater treatment). While state-of-the-art waste treatment facilities may collect, divert or eliminate nanomaterials from these waste streams, the report concludes that knowledge gaps associated with their final disposal remain, underlining the need for further research in this area.

  • 25-November-2015

    English

    OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: The Netherlands 2015

    This report is the third OECD review of environmental performance in the Netherlands. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with a focus on sustainable mobility, and waste and materials management. The OECD Environmental Performance Review Programme provides independent assessments of country progress in achieving domestic and international environmental policy commitments. The reviews are conducted to improve environmental performance, promote peer learning and enhance accountability. They are supported by a broad range of economic and environmental data, and provide policy-relevant recommendations. Each review cycle covers all OECD countries and selected partner economies. The most recent reviews include: Spain (2015), Poland (2015), Sweden (2014).

  • 21-September-2015

    English

    Critical Minerals Today and in 2030: An Analysis for OECD Countries - Environment Working Paper

    Raw materials are essential for the global economy and future development depends on their continued supply. Like fossil fuels, minerals are non-renewable. In general, their deposits in the Earth’s crust are also geographically clustered, making security of supply a potential risk. The purpose of this report is to perform for the first time an analysis of critical minerals for the OECD countries as a whole.

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  • 25-March-2015

    English

    Circular logic: why we don’t have to destroy to develop - Insights Blog

    When considering a by-product, can this material or waste be used in another industry or in another manufacturing process instead of putting it into the environment, moving “from waste to resources” as the OECD says?

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  • 12-February-2015

    English

    Material Resources, Productivity and the Environment

    Improving resource productivity and ensuring a sustainable resource and materials management building on the principle of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) is a central element of green growth policies. It helps to improve the environment, by reducing the amount of resources that the economy requires and diminishing the associated environmental impacts, and sustain economic growth by securing adequate supplies of materials and improving competitiveness. To be successful such policies need to be founded on a good understanding of how minerals, metals, timber or other materials flow through the economy throughout their life cycle, and of how this affects the productivity of the economy and the quality of the environment. This report contributes to this understanding. It describes the material basis of OECD economies and provides a factual analysis of material flows and resource productivity in OECD countries in a global context. It considers the production and consumption of materials, as well as their international flows and available stocks, and the environmental implications associated with their use. It also describes some of the challenges and opportunities associated with selected materials and products that are internationally-significant, both in economic and environmental terms (aluminium, copper, iron and steel, paper, phosphate rock and rare earth elements).

  • 29-October-2014

    English

    Making obsolescence obsolete: design to reduce waste - Insights blog

    Let’s be honest, waste reduction doesn’t have much of a ring to it. To many, it’s a complex policy issue without much hope if consumers keep throwing their cans away in the street.

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  • 14-June-2014

    English

    Message in a bottle: Producers not taxpayers should pay for the waste they generate - Insights Blog

    Have you ever wondered who was paying to recycle that plastic bottle you just threw away?

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  • 18-March-2013

    English

    Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Materials Management

    The OECD report “Greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for mitigation from materials management within OECD countries” provides support to governments in showing the importance of using a life-cycle approach to analyse GHG mitigation options from materials management.

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  • 17-October-2012

    English

    Sustainable Materials Management - Making Better Use of Resources

    Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is increasingly recognised as a policy approach that can make a key contribution to green growth and the challenges that are posed by sustained global economic and demogarphic growth. One of the key challenges of the SMM approach is to effectively address the environmental impacts that can occur along the life-cycle of materials, which frequently extends across borders and involves a multitude of different economic actors.   This book outlines a series of policy principles for SMM, examines how to set and use targets for SMM, and explores various policy instruments for SMM.  In addition it provides examples of policy action plans from the UK and the Netherlands, before presenting a series of conclusions and recommendations.

  • 20-May-2011

    English, , 1,689kb

    Resource Productivity in the G8 and the OECD

    This report on “Resource Productivity in the G8 and the OECD”, which responds to a request by G8 Environment Ministers at their meeting in Kobe in May 2008, presents an interim evaluation of progress in the last three years.

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