Industrial ecology can be considered the ”production” component of sustainable development.
The most important aspect of industrial ecology is the idea of industry as an system in which
there is no waste at any step because all “waste” is a resource for another part of the industry
network. Individual firms participate in industrial ecology by considering how their activities
fit into the larger industrial system, for example, what other industries can use our company
wastes as inputs, and how can we work with them? This concept is thus one of the relationship
and dynamics between companies. To make industrial ecology work of course requires conscious
application of the lower level concepts on the staircase as well as a motivation to
sustainable development.