The end of the 20th century and
the beginning of the 21st century has seen
intensive searching for new business models in
accordance with the sustainable development
approach. Sustainable manufacturing is a new
paradigm which has to take into consideration
all the three aspects of sustainable
development (financial, environmental and
social) and develop innovative methods,
practices and technologies enabling an
environment-friendly lifecycle of products. To
achieve this goal, contemporary models of
production must be updated to meet new
requirements and leave previous assumptions
on unlimited availability of resources and
ability of regeneration behind.