A geographically and socio-economically disaggregated local household consumption model for the UK
Introduction
Materially intensive consumption patterns and lifestyles present a major challenge to sustainability: resources are finite; there is limited capacity provided by the environment for disposal of wastes; and the use of materials is contributing to global environmental problems such as climate change [1], [2], [3], [4]. In particular, the increasing quantity of waste produced by households has significant environmental impacts. For example, landfill sites produce toxic leachate and greenhouse gases, and there is a scarcity of sites available for landfill. Traditionally, waste has been treated as an ‘end of pipe’ problem, but there is now a move amongst policy-makers to address the problem of waste by taking a whole life cycle approach to resource and waste management. Accordingly, the emphasis is now focused more towards reducing the demand for new resources, involving, for example, eco-design of goods, with increasing rates of repair, re-use, re-manufacture and recycling, thus aiming to achieve waste reduction. The starting point for such an approach must be an understanding of the upstream flow of resources through the economy and through households [5], [6].
The Local Area Resource Analysis (LARA) model described in this paper presents a framework that maps resource use, from a consumption perspective, through UK households grouped by highly socio-economically and geographically disaggregated areas, and relates resource use to waste arisings. Results generated by LARA add to the evidence base in several ways. First, they can be used to identify the demand for specific commodity types (and waste arisings) in a given geographical area. Next, they can be used to identify when and where opportunities for repair, re-use, re-manufacture and recycling arise and match these opportunities to available re-use or recycling facilities. Furthermore, LARA can start to answer questions about the resource consumption of specific socio-economic and lifestyle groups. Finally, LARA can, in principal, relate household resource use to local institutional infrastructure, and this will give us an insight into the extent to which households are “locked” into unsustainable consumption patterns through the infrastructure in which they operate [7], [8], [9].
LARA originated from an objective to estimate the waste arisings from households. The environmental impacts of those arisings depend on a number of factors, including the toxicity and fate of the wastes. A full life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste arising (or indeed of resource use) is beyond the scope of this paper [10], [11], [12]. Rather, LARA is a pragmatic framework that adopts a streamlined approach to environmental assessment based on principles of materials flow analysis [4], [13], [14]. Its strength lies in its ability to estimate very specific material demand and waste arisings in highly geographically and socio-demographically disaggregated areas.
In pursuit of these aims, this paper is organised as follows. The methodological approach adopted is described in Section 2, and the assumptions and limitations are outlined in Section 2.4. In Sections 3.1 Commodity demand in typical OAC areas, 3.2 Commodity demand in areas of contrasting relative deprivation, material demands for selected consumer commodities (household appliances, carpets, and women's and girls' outer garments) for selected case study areas are presented, and estimation of waste arisings is contained in Section 3.3. A discussion concerning validation of the model is provided in Section 3.4. This paper concludes by describing the contribution of the model to the evidence base for policy-making, and includes recommendations concerning data provision. A glossary of terms is placed after the conclusion.
Section snippets
Methodological approach
This paper describes a Local Area Resource Analysis (LARA) model, and presents an example of one of its uses. LARA quantifies average household expenditure of small socio-economically homogeneous local areas in England and Wales, and by applying the mass balance principle, which states that resource flows into a system must equal the resource flows that come out of the system plus stock accumulated [15], material demand is calculated. As an example, this paper shows how the material demand
Commodity demand in typical OAC areas
In this section results obtained from LARA for average household material demand of selected consumer commodities (Clothes Washer/Driers, Carpets, and Women's and Girls' Outer Garments) in the set of case study areas representing OAC super-groups are presented and discussed. These results illustrate the relative mass throughput of materials in the different types of areas, and provide the basis for estimating local household waste arisings in specific waste categories, as described in Sections
Conclusion
Policies aimed at moving towards a more resource-lean society are currently being developed and implemented in the UK at both national and local levels, and the Local Area Resource Analysis (LARA) model, described in this paper, has the ability to contribute to future policy-making at both these levels. At a national level, LARA enhances our understanding of what type of households is responsible for how much resource use, by relating resource use to socio-economic characteristics. This ability
Acknowledgements
This research was made possible through funding from the EPSRC Sustainable Urban Environment Waste Consortium programme (Grant Number GR/S79626/01), and ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles Values and Environment (RESOLVE) (Grant Number RES-152-25-1004). Data from the 2001 Census are provided by the Commissioned Output Census Service of the Office for National Statistics (Crown Copyright 2005).
Glossary of abbreviations
- COICOP
- Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose
- CPI
- Consumer Price Index
- HoC
- Household Characteristics Classification
- HRP
- Household Representative Person (head of household)
- LARA
- Local Area Resource Analysis model
- OA
- Census 2001Output Area
- OAC
- UK National Output Area Classification
Angela Druckman is research fellow at the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey. Angela is also a member of the ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE).
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Angela Druckman is research fellow at the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey. Angela is also a member of the ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE).
Philip Sinclair is research fellow at the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey.
Tim Jackson is Professor of Sustainable Development at the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey and Director of RESOLVE. He is also the Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission and sits on the Environment Agency Science Advisory Panel.