Industrial ecology and LCM: Chicken and egg?

Abstract

For some three decades, concerns about environment and, more recently sustainability, have spawned new ideas, policies and strategies, tools, and technologies. Observers of changes in these categories note several important trends, for example, a move from command-and control of production to a marketbased system. Another trend is a broadening of focus from the production side only to include product systems under the policy makers' or designers' microscope. This move is just one aspect of a more fundamental shift a broadening of boundaries towards a larger systems context. LCA and LCM represent steps along the path to such a systems view. At the same time that these two concepts developed, so did another systems-oriented idea, industrial ecology, taking its basic framework for analysis and design from natural ecological systems. Its evolution has roots in several fields and disciplines including economics, biology, engineering, thermodynamics, and more. The strongly interdisciplinary character of industrial ecology creates overlaps with these related fields and with distinctive methodological areas, such as LCA or LCM. To get the most out of work in any of these, it is very important to promote communication and collaboration among researchers and practitioners. Joint meetings, like the one organized in Barcelona in December 2002 by SETAC and the International Society for Industrial Ecology 1, can facilitate productive overlap and cross-talk, and help prevent the formation of hard boundaries.