Industrial Ecology

Essay by loneogmariUniversity, Master'sA, November 2010

download word file, 4 pages 0.0

Lone Hammersland 09/13/10

Industrial ecology

Industrial ecology is a new approach on how to operate business processes and consider environmental implications at the same time. In other words how to design and implement sustainable manufacturing strategies and finding innovative solutions to environmental problems. It is important to find a balance between environmental and economic performance. To do this means we will have to find a way to connect both local and global factors and to consider both short-term and long-term impacts. It is a long and difficult road to make your business sustainable, but it may in fact increase future resources and profits.

Today we live by a strategy "take, make and waste". This means that we take resources from the nature and not giving back or recycling enough. Most businesses today operate without regarding to the nature. Almost all sectors have a non sustainable consumption path and not enough people seem to care.

The problem with this approach is that resources that we need for completing our business processes will die out. We need to be more aware of sustainability, turn this trend and become sustainable on a global basis. By adopting industrial ecology system it would help a company to reduce waste production, maximize the use of waste materials and find a way to use used products as inputs in other potential processes and industries (Frosch, 1992).

When you read about industrial ecology you will notice the word sustainability. Anderson defines sustainability in his book to be:

In business, sustainability is all about coming up with ways to meet our needs (not wants- needs) today without undermining the ability of other folks to meet their needs tomorrow.

He implies that we have to think about the future and not just the present day. If we want people...