Industrial Ecology and Its Relationship to Cleaner Production

摘要

The concept behind the science of Industrial Ecology (IE) is that an industrial system should be viewed not in isolation from its surrounding systems, but in concert with them. Industrial Ecology is the systematic study of industrial systems in relation to natural and human systems designed to optimize the total materials cycle from virgin material, to finished material, to product, to obsolete product, and to ultimate disposal. Cleaner Production (CP) is essentially the application of IE to the improvement of production processes, products, and services to increase eco-efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment. Thus, in theory, the two concepts are intimately related and mutually reinforcing. In practice, both the science and its application in specific circumstances are relatively new and still evolving.