Helmut Rechberger

Subject: Comments/Proposals to Draft Specifications for application of UNFC to Anthropogenic Resources from Professor Helmut Rechberger, Head of the Research Centre of Waste and Resource Management, Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria
 

Congratulations to the WG members for this eminent work to integrate anthropogenic resources into the general framework of resource classification.

 

Comment 1:

I. Introduction, point 4: definition of “Anthropogenic Resource”

I recommend to add the term “flow” into the definition as a flow can also be considered as a resource. 

The term “anthropogenic resources” designates resource stocks and flows that are found….

This would be also better consistent with point 6, where the flows are explicitly mentioned.

 

Comment 2:

Throughout I would recommend to replace all references made to Baccini and Brunner (2012) by their earlier book from 1991. The reason is that Baccini and Brunner (2012) suggests that the definitions etc. made by them are rather recent work, which is not the case.

The reference would be: Baccini, P., Brunner, P.H., Metabolism of the anthroposphere, Springer, New York, 1991.

 

Comment 3:

Figure 1: I recommend to add one arrow going from “Manufacturing” to “Raw material production” illustrating the flow of so-called “New Scrap”, which usually does not enter classical “Waste management”.

 

Comment 4:

Baccini and Brunner distinguished between “substances” and “goods”, using the umbrella term “material” for both. I realise that the term good is strictly avoided throughout the Draft Specifications. For me the intension behind this is not quite clear, however, I would recommend at least to introduce the term “good” once and explain why it is not used and replaced by (in this case better) synonyms such as product, commodity, etc.