Relationships
Industrial ecology can be considered the ”production” component of sustainable development.
“Industrial ecology is the means by which humanity can deliberately and rationally approach
and maintain a desirable carrying capacity, given continued economic, cultural
and technological evolution. The concept requires that an industrial system be viewed
not in isolation from its surrounding systems, but in concert with them. It is a system
view in which one seeks to optimize the total materials cycle from virgin material, to
finished material, to product, to waste product, and to ultimate disposal. Factors to be
optimized include resources, energy and capital.”