An assessment of waste issues associated with the production of new, lightweight, fuel-efficient vehicles

This article assesses solid and hazardous wastes that would be generated through the production of new, lightweight, fuel-efficient vehicles. In these vehicles, steel is replaced with aluminum, titanium, magnesium, plastics, and glass and carbon fibers. In addition to total volumes, we pay particular attention to a subset of highly toxic chemical constituents in hazardous waste. The article also examines capacity in the United States to manage the solid and hazardous waste generation changes. Finally, we review the distribution of environmental impacts that changes in material composition would cause. The estimated generation of solid and hazardous wastes for each of the three new vehicles is greater than wastes for a base vehicle, although the United States has sufficient waste management capacity to handle these increases. Production of a subset of chemical constituents of hazardous waste, specifically those that are highly toxic, will decrease in most cases for the three new vehicles. Moving to these new materials could reduce mining for iron ore in the United States but increase the mining of bauxite for aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and other materials in such major countries as Canada, China, and Russia and in many small, developing countries, such as Guinea, Jamaica, and Sierra Leone.