Industrial Ecology: Minimizing the Impact of Industrial Waste

TLDR

Human industry has historically operated as an open system of material flow, converting natural resources into products and discarding waste that often forced communities to relocate. Archaeological evidence shows Neolithic rubbish dumps contain discarded stone, flint, and pottery, indicating early waste accumulation.

Abstract

Throughout human history, industry has been an open system of materials flow. People took natural plant, animal and mineral materials and transformed them into tools, clothing and other products of all kinds. When materials were left over from the production process or worn out, they were thrown aside—dumped in the backyard, as it were. Archaeologists find deposits of discarded materials—scrap stone, flints and potsherds—in the rubbish dumps of the Neolithic. Habitations were often moved because the waste that people had piled around them had rendered the old location an unsuitable place to live.