title: Toward sustainable material usage: evaluating the importance of market motivated agency in modeling material flows.
abstract: Increasing recycling will be a key strategy for moving toward sustainable materials usage. There are many barriers to increasing recycling, including quality issues in the scrap stream. Repeated recycling can compound this problem through the accumulation of tramp elements over time. This paper explores the importance of capturing recycler decision-making in accurately modeling accumulation and the value of technologies intended to mitigate it. A method was developed combining dynamic material flow analysis with allocation of those materials into production portfolios using blending models. Using this methodology, three scrap allocation methods were explored in the context of a case study of aluminum use: scrap pooling, pseudoclosed loop, and market-based. Results from this case analysis suggest that market-driven decisions and upgrading technologies can partially mitigate the negative impact of accumulation on scrap utilization, thereby increasing scrap use and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A market-based allocation method for modeling material flows suggests a higher value for upgrading strategies compared to a pseudoclosed loop or pooling allocation method for the scenarios explored.
authors: Golisano Institute for Sustainability, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA. gabrielle.gaustad@rit.edu
authors: Gabrielle
authors: G
authors: Gaustad
authors: Elsa
authors: E
authors: Olivetti
authors: Randolph
authors: R
authors: Kirchain
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D040541:Marketing; D059027:Recycling / Q000639:trends*