Materials, Waste and Global Warming

According to the US EPA, approximately 42% of greenhouse gas emissions originating in the United States are associated with the management of materials. Production/manufacturing contributes the most (33%), followed by transportation of goods (7%) and end-of-life management (2%). These estimates don’t include the emissions associated with producing products and materials that we import from other countries. So clearly, how much we produce and consume, what materials and products we use, how and where they’re made, how they’re transported, and how we manage our discards, all impact climate change.

Waste prevention and recycling help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a typical year, recycling in Oregon reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to the tailpipe emissions from 700,000 – 800,000 cars. Most of these emissions reductions occur “upstream” when manufacturers use recycled wastes instead of virgin materials to make new products. Recycling also helps to reduce “downstream” greenhouse gas emissions from landfills, although this benefit is smaller than the “upstream” reductions.

Even more effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions is waste prevention, the “reduce, reuse” part of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” DEQ’s Waste Prevention Strategy includes several projects that help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• DEQ's Waste prevention strategy Web page.

Governor's Advisory Group on Global Warming

Governor Kulongoski’s Advisory Group on Global Warming (2004) was supported by seven technical subcommittees that identified and evaluated alternatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. DEQ’s Solid Waste Program staffed the Technical Subcommittee on Materials and Waste.

The Technical Subcommittee on Materials and Waste produced two documents. The first is a “briefing paper” that explains the relationship between materials, waste, and greenhouse gases and discusses some of the related accounting issues. The second provides a preliminary evaluation of specific policy and program alternatives to reduce greenhouse gases through waste prevention, recycling, composting, reduced garbage burning, and landfill gas controls.

• Download introductory briefing paper here (“No 9 Materials”) PDF
• Download preliminary evaluation of alternatives here (“materials options 0601”) PDF

The Oregon Strategy for Greenhouse Gas Reductions provides more information, including the Advisory Group’s recommendations.

• Oregon Strategy for Greenhouse Gas Reductions

Want more information?

• EPA Climate Change - Waste
  Visit the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) web site on climate change.
• Climate Change in Oregon
  Meeting the challenge of climate change.
• Answering the Oregon Challenge: Climate Change
  DEQ's climate change main Web page.