Industrial ecology: concepts and approaches.

TLDR

Industrial ecology is a systems‑oriented approach that optimizes the entire materials cycle—from virgin inputs to final disposal—by integrating industrial processes with surrounding environmental and societal systems. This paper introduces the framework of industrial ecology and outlines how subsequent contributions align with it.

Abstract

Industrial ecology is a new approach to the industrial design of products and processes and the implementation of sustainable manufacturing strategies. It is a concept in which an industrial system is viewed not in isolation from its surrounding systems but in concert with them. Industrial ecology seeks to optimize the total materials cycle from virgin material to finished material, to component, to product, to waste product, and to ultimate disposal. To better characterize the topic, the National Academy of Sciences convened a colloquium from which were derived a number of salient contributions. This paper sets the stage for the contributions that follow and discusses how each fits into the framework of industrial ecology.