Material Stock Analysis for Implementing Circular Economic Concepts in Mongolia’s Construction and Transportation Sectors

This study quantifies the material stock and flow in Mongolia’s construction and transportation sectors. In the last few years, a rapid development in Mongolia’s construction and transportation industries has led to large amounts of construction waste. Most raw materials extracted are accumulated in building infrastructure and other durable goods. This study used the bottom-up approach to estimate the material stock (MS) of Mongolia’s transportation and construction industries. The analysis shows that in 2020, Mongolia accumulated about 180.7 Mt of material stock (MS) with a potential of 26.6 Mt (14.7%) of waste from the transportation and construction sectors in the future. The study also highlights materials’ distribution and intensities across each sector and successfully establishes a material stock database for Mongolia’s transportation and construction sectors. From the results, it can be deduced that MSFA studies will assist policymakers in forecasting future demand for materials and estimating the environmental impact, which can aid in developing relevant policies on reducing the negative environmental impacts and implementing circular economy concepts.