• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.24-35
• /
• 2020

Management of resource productivity is important for the reduction of natural resources and energy consumption. This is closely linked to circular economy which has recently been stressed worldwidely. Resource productivity is a key indicator which is to be managed in various industry sectors. Especially Korea which is heavily dependent on the natural resources import from overseas needs to give attention to this point. Nevertheless resource productivity related domestic researches and policies are extremely rare. This paper thus presents trends on resources productivities and their management policies of European countries and OECD G7 countries compared to the situation of Korea. In addition, the decoupling phenomenon of DMC (domestic material consumption) and GDP of Europe is analyzed and the resource productivity promotion strategy of Korea is proposed.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.258-266
• /
• 2022

Resource productivity (GDP/DMC) is defined as GDP divided by DMC. However, it has shortcomings when estimating the value-added generated from material processing. In this paper, an energy coefficient is applied to GDP to develop a sub-indicator (referred to as GDPe/DMC). Consequently, South Korea, which is a secondary industry-oriented country, created 1,094.60 USD/ton from input materials and was ranked 4th on the OECD list, which is 10 levels higher than the level estimated by GDP/DMC. However, Luxembourg, which is a tertiary industry-oriented country, is ranked 16th on the OECD list, which is 12 levels lower than the level estimated by GDP/DMC. The resource productivity estimated by the sub-indicator (GDPe/DMC) developed in this study indicates that secondary industry-oriented countries are undervalued in the existing main GDP/DMC calculation. On the other hand, tertiary industry-oriented countries are downgraded due to the industrial features of the GDPe/DMC calculation. As a result of this paper, GDPe/DMC could be considered a more reasonable indicator to directly reflect the material input effect compared to the existing main indicator, GDP/DMC. This means that GDPe/DMC-induced resource productivities could be estimated to be slightly higher than the GDP/DMC-induced resource productivities for secondary industry-oriented countries. It is expected that the sub-indicator, GDPe/DMC, proposed in this study could be useful especially for comparing and analyzing the resource productivities between countries that have different industry structures. This study intended to consider a structurally energy/resource-intensive industry in estimating and analyzing national-level resource productivity. Thus, the sub-indicator, GDPe/DMC, may help minimize the distortion of interpreting national resource productivities in various situations, and be utilized as a more efficient tool when used together with GDP/DMC.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.43-49
• /
• 2011

This study calculated the three indices of Korea's resource productivity (and raw material productivity), material circulation rate and decoupling factor to evaluate the sustainability of domestic economic activities and resource consumption and examine the extent of dematerialization. Korea's resource productivity improved 22% from 1.32 million KRW/ton in 2000 to 1.61 million KRW/ton in 2007, with the annual average growth of resource productivity during the period standing at 2.88%. Raw material inputs accounted for 73-76% of domestic material consumption (DMC); raw material productivity for the year 2007 was 2.11 million KRW/ton, growing 3% on annual average from 2000 through 2007. The wastes released are circulated into the economic system through recycling and energization. Korea's material circulation went up from 10.9% in 2000 to 15.6% in 2007, growing by an annual average of 5.3% during the period. The rate of change in year-on-year growth, however, was found to be on the gradual decrease. This study also showed that Korea's economic activities were decoupled with its resource consumption as the country heads toward dematerialization through sustainable resource management.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.39 no.5 s.180
• /
• pp.615-626
• /
• 2006

The natural resources and material life-cycle include all human activities related to resources and material extraction, transportation, processing, use, recovery and disposal. Sustainable material management (SMM) is an integrated set of policy approaches targeted on economic agents throughout the material life-cycles and designed to result in economically efficient and environmentally effective material use. The material flows of industrial mineral, ores and fossil fuels have also long been a focal area for environmental policies because of the high environmental pressures associated with extraction, processing, consumption, and final disposal of these materials. OECD work on material flow is to improve the quantitative and analytical knowledge bases about natural resource and material flows within and among countries, so as to better understand the importance of material resources in member countries' economies. In several EU Member States, material flow accounts are part of official statistics. Material flow analysis (MFA) is a valuation method which assesses the efficiency of use of materials using information from material flow accounting. Material flow analysis helps to identify waste of natural resources and other materials in the economy which would otherwise go unnoticed in conventional economic monitoring systems. Resource use and resource efficiency has emerged as a major issue for long-term sustainability and environmental policy.