The industrial society that produces products and services for consumers has realized the benefits of pollution-prevention planning and waste minimization. But for industry to fully gain an economic advantage, as well as reverse the damaging effects on the air, water, and soil that support our eco-systems, the principles of industrial ecology will be necessary for future sustainability. These principles require an industrial organization to regard their design and operations as holistic. This means they must determine the impact their activities, products, and services have on the local, regional, and global environment. With knowledge of the effects their organizations have on the environment, managers and other organizational personnel can introduce changes that concentrate on materials and energy flow through their operations.
Industrial ecology is the interaction of industry and society with natural systems.
Background A natural ecosystem has resources and conditions that support its residents. Waste from one species is used by another, and life and death is a continuous recycling of nutrients, i.e., the breakdown of animal and plant waste for use by plants. Many companies within an industrial sector find that their wastes are really not waste but by-products of activities or services that can be used to create new products or to exchange or sell to other companies as raw material. When comparing industrial metabolism with natural metabolism, the major difference is that the industrial system is open, and, therefore, unsustainable. This is due to the industry's continuous use of raw materials and discarding of waste.