Matti Melanen

How Can the Eco‐Efficiency of a Region Be Measured and Monitored?

The concept of eco‐efficiency is commonly referred to as a business link to sustainable development. In this article, ecoefficiency is examined at a regional level as an approach to promoting the competitiveness of economic activities in the Finnish Kymenlaakso region and mitigating their harmful impacts on the environment. The aim is to develop appropriate indicators for monitoring changes in the eco‐efficiency of the region. A starting point is to produce indicators for the environmental and economic dimensions of regional development and use them for measuring regional eco‐efficiency. The environmental impact indicators are based on a life‐cycle assessment method, producing different types of environmental impact indicators: pressure indicators (e.g., emissions of CO), impact category indicators (e.g., CO equivalents in the case of climate change), and a total impact indicator (aggregating different impact category indicator results into a single value). Environmental impact indicators based on direct material input, total material input, and total material requirement of the Kymenlaakso region are also assessed. The economic indicators used are the gross domestic product, the value added, and the output of the main economic sectors of Kymenlaakso. In the eco‐efficiency assessment, the economic and environmental impact indicators are monitored in the same graph. In a few cases eco‐efficiency ratios can also be calculated (the economic indicators are divided by the environmental indicators). Output (= value added + intermediate consumption) is used as an economic indicator related to the environmental impact indicators, which also cover the upstream processes of the regions activities. In the article, we also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using the different environmental impact indicators.

Waste minimisation in small and medium-sized enterprises—do environmental management systems help?

Abstract The main research question of our study was as follows: What opportunities for upgrading material efficiency and waste minimisation can be found in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? The empirical material consisted of 41 theme interviews in Finnish industrial SMEs. In the article, the SMEs are assigned to four different categories according to their attitudes towards environmental protection. This analysis also explains why SMEs build up environmental management systems (EMSs). The EMSs do not appear to provide much impetus for SMEs to implement waste minimisation. The reduction of wastes in SMEs is driven more by the costs of raw materials than by waste costs. From the standpoint of environmental authorities, it is therefore crucial to find procedures to support SMEs in increasing their efficient use of materials.

Analyzing the Environmental Benefits of Industrial Symbiosis Life Cycle Assessment Applied to a Finnish Forest Industry Complex

Summary Studies of industrial symbiosis (IS) focus on the physical flows of materials and energy in local industrial systems. In an ideal IS, waste material and energy are shared or exchanged among the actors of the system, thereby reducing the consumption of virgin material and energy inputs, and likewise the generation of waste and emissions. In this study, the environmental impacts of an industrial ecosystem centered around a pulp and paper mill and operating as an IS are analyzed using life cycle assessment (LCA). The system is compared with two hypothetical reference systems in which the actors would operate in isolation. Moreover, the system is analyzed further in order to identify possibilities for additional links between the actors. The results show that of the total life cycle impacts of the system, upstream processes made the greatest overall contribution to the results. Comparison with stand-alone production shows that in the case studied, the industrial symbiosis results in modest improvements, 5% to 20% in most impact categories, in the overall environmental impacts of the system. Most of the benefits occur upstream through heat and electricity production for the local town. All in all it is recommended that when the environmental impacts of industrial symbiosis are assessed, the impacts occurring upstream should also be studied, not only the impacts within the ecosystem.

Methodological Aspects of Applying Life Cycle Assessment to Industrial Symbioses

In view of recent studies of the historical development and current status of industrial symbiosis (IS), life cycle assessment (LCA) is proposed as a general framework for quantifying the environmental performance of by‐product exchange. Recent guidelines for LCA (International Reference Life Cycle Data System [ILCD] guidelines) are applied to answer the main research questions in the IS literature reviewed. A typology of five main research questions is proposed: (1) analysis, (2) improvement, and (3) expansion of existing systems; (4) design of new eco‐industrial parks, and (5) restructuring of circular economies. The LCA guidelines were found useful in framing the question and choosing an appropriate reference case for comparison. The selection of a correct reference case reduces the risk of overestimating the benefits of by‐product exchange. In the analysis of existing systems, environmentally extended input‐output analysis (EEIOA) can be used to streamline the analysis and provide an industry average baseline for comparison. However, when large‐scale changes are applied to the system, more sophisticated tools are necessary for assessment of the consequences, from market analysis to general equilibrium modeling and future scenario work. Such a rigorous application of systems analysis was not found in the current IS literature, but would benefit the field substantially, especially when the environmental impact of large‐scale economic changes is analyzed.

Forest industry and the environment: a life cycle assessment study from Finland

Abstract Management of forest resources and related industries has a significant effect on the Finnish environment. Therefore there was an obvious need for a study to assess environmental impacts and to identify needs and options for environmental improvements in the forest sector. It was against this background that the Finnish Environment Institute carried out a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the Finnish forest industry. This application included methodological innovations compared with the traditional product-related LCA because it was a study of the whole production system of the mechanical and chemical forest industry. Areas for improvement of environmental protection in the forest sector for the year 2005 were identified on the basis of the inventory (emissions, wastes, etc.), environmental impact assessment and other available data. During the study a new impact assessment procedure was developed in order to assess more actual impacts of country-specific systems. Although the prioritized factors found were not strongly ranked against each other it can be concluded that maintaining biodiversity in the context of forestry practices and increasing the efficiency of energy use are the key issues in the environmental protection of the forest sector. Before detailed ranking of emissions and other stressors can be produced there is a need for more reliable stressor data, better understanding of stressor–effect relationships and more consensus on the importance of different environmental problems. Despite the limitations and needs for further development, the presented LCA approach can be regarded as a useful tool for providing a deeper understanding of the key issues in the environmental protection of a whole production system.

The Finnish metals industry and the environment

Abstract An extensive R&D project—Life Cycle Assessment as a Tool for the Management of Environmental Issues in the Finnish Metals Industry—was carried out as part of the Finnish Environmental Cluster Research Programme 1998–2000. Life cycle inventory (LCI) data of the main product groups—steel plates and coils, steel bars, steel wires, stainless steel, copper, nickel, zinc and aluminium were produced and company specific environmental impact assessments were made based on these. The LCI data was interpreted by an impact assessment model based on decision analysis and methods used in life cycle impact assessment. The results revealed that the Finnish metals industry is far from homogenous as regards its environmental impacts. The life cycle assessment (LCA) data was also used to identify important areas of environmental protection needed in the industry from the standpoint of eco-efficiency. Notwithstanding the current good level of environmental protection in the Finnish metals industry, reduction of energy use, deposits, sludges, dusts and emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and metals needs to continue. It is possible to upgrade eco-efficiency by producing more metals and by-products from smaller amounts of raw materials and by recovering wastes. Increasing further the reusability and recyclability of metals is also a desirable trend. In the long term, eco-efficiency can best be improved by decreasing the use of metals by developing and better utilising their properties and by increasing the life times of metallic end products. There is also a need for R&D work on land use and landscape issues, as well as the environmental impacts of metals, which cannot currently be properly handled in LCAs.

How does industry respond to waste policy instruments—Finnish experiences

Abstract This multiple-case study, which combined diverse data collection methods, evaluated the impacts of waste policy instruments on 14 mainly large Finnish industrial companies in the 1990s. The management response to waste policy in the firms appeared to be small and most of the interviewees felt that the primary pressure to upgrade environmental performance came from their customers. The waste policy instruments were not considered to have contributed to waste prevention in the case companies. In contrast, the recovery and safe final disposal of wastes had developed favourably. In order to promote the source reduction of waste, the scope of policy should be drastically shifted from waste management to society’s overall cycles of materials and products.

Integrated pollution prevention and control - the Finnish approach

Abstract The Finnish environmental policy concerning industrial activities rests to a large extent on the following three principles, (1) participation of industry and other stakeholders in the preparation of new legislation and in the setting up of environmental targets; (2) strict but practical and cost-effective implementation of regulations, standards and permit provisions, in which operators themselves can choose appropriate technical measures to meet the requirements; (3) transparency and easy access to environmental information. Participation of industry in the preparatory process of regulations and other policy instruments is aimed at increasing the commitment of operators to the decisions made. On the other hand, this has given room for some flexibility, such as self-monitoring of permit conditions, in enforcement. Clearly, the main emphasis is placed on prevention rather than on detailed enforcement programmes. Finland adopted the Directive on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) of the European union (EU) by introducing a new Environmental Protection Act that came into force on 1 March 2000. The Act puts new focus on the principle of best available techniques (BAT), holistic and integrated approach, high level of environmental protection by cost-effective measures, energy efficiency and risk management. Furthermore, an important new feature to be tackled is the supplementing of permitting with voluntary environmental management systems, particularly ISO 14 001 and EMAS, and with energy conservation agreements. Substantial supporting activities have been established in Finland in order to strengthen and enhance the application of BAT and an integrated approach. National Industry Branch Groups (IBGs) have been, and will be set up, for the major BAT reference document (BREF) categories of the EU. The IBGs consist of permitting and enforcement authorities and experts of the industries concerned. Several R&D projects have also been launched in order to provide a good knowledge base and supportive methods for improving integrated pollution prevention. A systems approach to integrated environmental permitting is elaborated and discussed in this article.

Finnish waste policy—effects and effectiveness

More than 20 ordinances on waste have been issued in Finland since the National Waste Act came into force in 1994. Effects and effectiveness of this regulation have recently been analysed in an R&D project called WAPO. The materials and methods used in WAPO were mainly based on case studies on regional and company scales. According to WAPO, the infrastructure of waste management and the recovery of wastes have greatly improved in Finland in the 1990s. By contrast, the waste policy has not been able to upgrade waste prevention, the primary objective in the hierarchy defined by the Finnish Waste Act and the EUs waste policy. To overcome this drawback, the use of economic policy instruments are recommended to be extended and directed towards enhancing efficient use of natural resources and materials. Self-regulation within industry, e.g. the use of environmental management systems (EMSs), is one solution that has been proposed as an alternative to more intensive use of economic instruments. Although the attitudes and experiences of enterprises with respect to EMSs are positive, their real influence on company behaviour needs to be further studied. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems in waste management appear to have great potential. However, their main effect hitherto has been intensified recovery of waste. This fact may have influenced the slightly dissatisfied general attitude towards the Finnish EPR systems. New initiatives are needed in waste policy because the amounts of waste in Finland, as well as in other parts of Europe, are continually growing. Simultaneously, the scope of policy should be drastically broadened from mere wastes to societys overall cycles of materials and products.

How can the sustainability of industrial symbioses be measured

In the scientific literature, there are (so far) few studies quantifying the environmental benefits or sustainability of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) networks although, at the same time, the potential tools for these kinds of assessments have been developed rapidly both in number and capacity. In this article, we first review the existing studies on the environmental performance of IS systems. We draw a conclusion that these studies usually only concentrate on one or a limited number of factors and also use a narrow approach to system boundaries considering just the impacts taking place within the symbiosis. Finally, we suggest that The Natural Step (TNS) System Conditions could constitute a basis which – through a set of sustainability criteria and a series of questions derived from them – would essentially steer the analyses made about the environmental performance and overall sustainability of the IS network at hand.