CYCLING RESIDUES POTENTIAL FOR INCREASED TRANSPORTATION DEMANDS DUE TO RECYCLING OF MATERIALS IN SWEDEN

This paper discusses in general terms the potential risk that increase d recycling of materials in the technosphere may lead to significant c hanges in freight transportation demands. Such cyclic, as opposed to l inear, material flows are proposed as one step towards an environmenta lly sustainable use of resources, Total volume of transported annual m aterial flows in Sweden are estimated in order to provide a background for the analysis of transport demands: Raw material 210 Mton Products 165 Mton Residues from production 20 Mton Residues from consumption 1 0 Mton The difference in volume between raw material and products is e xplained by foreign trade, generation of residues and indefinite data. The difference in products compared to residues can primarily be expl ained by an increasing stock of materials in society, large pollution flows (e.g., CO,), and that resources have a higher water content than residues, On a qualitative basis, it can be argued that a drastic inc rease of transportation demand can not be expected by increased recycl ing. A decrease of transported raw material is expected for some secto rs, while only limited increase of residue transports. Furthermore, it should also be observed that the problem of residue/ waste transporta tion is very small compared to the environmental impact of the total t ransportation sector. The main conclusion is therefore that the expect ed changes in transportation demand due to increased reuse and recycli ng, are not a general hindrance against introducing a more cyclic mate rial management.