There were three major tasks for the project:
1. To establish the sustainable materials management institution and performance evaluation index system.
(1) To research and collect up-to-date literature related to sustainable materials management from the OECD, the EU, and the UNEP. The results included the German Resource Efficiency Programme, the Netherlands’ chain approach, and Japan’s sound material-cycle society policy and regulations. The literature was summarized to provide information regarding policy instruments, institutional change, major difficulties, division of work among government agencies, and the role of business and industries in sustainable materials management. The summary was used in the project report as important reference for establishing the SMM policy in Taiwan.
(2) The waste management policy and regulations, and resource management status in Taiwan were reviewed. Resources were classified into four categories: biomass, metals, non-metal minerals, and energy carriers. The management measures in each category were articulated with examples, and compared with those in other countries in order to propose improvement suggestions for future resource/material management measures. The proposed improvement measures included management objectives, policy strategies and instruments, short-term/mid-term/long-term action plans, and the division of work among government agencies.
(3) The sustainable materials management objective, indices, and status in OECD, EU, and Japan were used as references in establishing the sustainable materials management performance index system in Taiwan.
2. To establish an integrated circular resources database.
(1) A new resource-economic input/output table was completed with 68 categories of sectors and 4 categories of materials. The waste categories and disposal methods were integrated into the new input/output table as an instrument of resource management for analyzing material input and output data.
(2) New industrial relational table was created, and the cyclic resource input/output database was planned. The structure of the database was analyzed with examples. Current database of the EPA waste control center was integrated into the planned cyclic resource input/output database.
(3) Waste generation and recycling was analyzed and evaluated with examples of coal ash, scrap steel, and slags from EAF. The consistency of waste generation, the sectoral recycling status, and the indirect influence of sectoral structure on waste generation was examined.
(4) The carbon-reducing factors of recycled secondary materials used in manufacturing processes were evaluated as potential replacement for primary raw materials, which might be proposed as one of the cyclic resource management measures. Two analytic examples were provided: the scrap steel and the waste foundry sand.
3. To inventory industrial input/output data at the business level and to propose improvement measures for business resource productivity.
(1) A tentative methodology for business level material input/output inventory was devised and implemented with a standard operation procedure. One hundred business in the steel sector were selected for the inventory, and the data collected were analyzed to research potential material flow problems that might reduce resource productivity. Measures to improve productivity and material flow management were suggested for each business.
(2) Sustainable materials management indices were calculated using collected input/output data for each business and four sub-sectors of the steel sector.
(3) Measures to increase resource productivity were proposed for each business based on input/output data. The carbon reducing measures and associated benefits were proposed for the steel sector.
(4) Two pre-inventory seminars were held to coordinate the inventory procedure, and to increase the willingness of participation of selected business. The inventoried business were invited to a forum in which analytic results of inventory data were presented, and opinions regarding material management policy were exchanged among participants.
