Advancing sustainable management of chemicals via mapping material cycles and related environmental impacts of key chemicals

Abstract

The rapid advancement of modern technologies, economic growth, and industrial restructuring has intensified chemical demand and associated environmental challenges. This highlights the urgent need for sustainable chemical management practices. Central to achieving these is a systematic understanding of anthropogenic material cycles and associated environmental impacts of chemicals – insights essential for policymakers to design data-based, targeted chemical management strategies that foster environmental sustainability.
Despite progress in incorporating material cycle data into chemical governance frameworks, several challenges persist. These challenges include knowledge gaps in chemical material cycles, the invisible property of chemical flows, uncertainties of future scenarios, and disconnects between material cycles and environmental risks. Addressing these challenges by capturing the characteristics of chemical material cycles and their associated environmental impacts is thus critical for advancing sustainable chemical management.
This research is guided by three core questions: (1) what are the characteristics of material cycles and related environmental impacts for key chemicals; (2) what are the key factors influencing the characteristics of material cycles and related environmental impacts for key chemicals; and (3) what strategies can be implemented to minimise the environmental impacts associated with the material cycles of key chemicals for sustainable chemical management?
A multi-scale analytical framework was developed that comprises three sets of integrated methods, including (1) “physical trade analysis (PTA) – environmental risk assessment (ERA)”, (2) “material flow analysis (MFA) – multimedia environmental modelling (MEM) – ERA”, and (3) “MFA – life cycle assessment (LCA)” (Chapter 3). Based on both publicly available and primary data, this framework was used to identify sustainable chemical management solutions via mapping information on chemical material cycles and their associated environmental impacts. Case studies were conducted in representative categories of chemicals from three dimensions: (1) examining pesticide flows and their related environmental risks embodied in the global soybean trade (Chapter 4); (2) investigating material cycles, environmental emissions, and ecological risks of bisphenol A (BPA) embedded in plastics in China (Chapter 5); and (3) analysing recycling, reuse, and related carbon footprints of post-consumer polypropylene (PP) food containers within China’s takeaway industry (Chapter 6).
The thesis contributes methodologically by bridging anthropogenic chemical material cycles with related environmental impacts and policy-relevant scenarios. It introduces novel perspectives and methods for analysing chemical management systems and offers granular insights into global pesticide governance and food security (Chapter 4), plastic additive management and pollution control (Chapter 5), and plastic waste management and circular economy transitions (Chapter 6).
Practically, the thesis provides actionable recommendations for policymakers in chemical authorities. These recommendations cover targeted trade governance and tightened global collaborations for agrochemical flow tracking (Chapter 4); prioritised national controls on plastic chemicals across hot-spot sectors, products, life-cycle stages, regions, and environmental media (Chapter 5); and innovation and improvement of industrial technologies in plastic waste recycling (Chapter 6).
Overall, this work enhances chemical managers’ understanding of evidence-based, tailored, and long-term chemical management strategies across global, national, and industrial contexts, supporting sustainable development targets on chemical safety and waste reduction.

Date of Award	13 Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Nottingham
Supervisor	Hing Kai Chan (Supervisor), Faith Chan (Supervisor), Wei-Qiang Chen (Supervisor) & Matthew Johnson (Supervisor)