What is industrial ecology?
A new field of study, industrial ecology is an option towards sustainable development
Industrial ecology is a new and comprehensive field of study that advocates an integrated approach to the relationship between industry and the environment. More developed in countries such as Japan, the United States and the European community, industrial ecology seeks to prevent pollution, promote recycling and reuse of waste, the efficient use of resources and productive inputs, as well as extending the life of industrial products. The idea is that the resources used by the industry remain within the production cycle, avoiding waste.
The term industrial ecology began to appear in research and scientific articles in the 1970s and it was also at this time that Japan included the relationship with the environment in the practical performance of its industries. Industrial ecology, also associated with the term industrial ecosystem, preaches integration and cooperation between industries, which could meet in industrial parks and adopt integrated production processes, in which the waste generated in one process would serve as raw material in another or could be used as by-products in another industry or process.
Adopting the proposal of industrial ecology makes an industry integrate a system based on the Circular Economy, precisely because (in the ideal plan) all the invested resources are reused. In this sense, external recycling should be among the last options, as it diverts raw materials out of the production system. The proposed practices are part of policies necessary for sustainable development and that are already adopted by some industries.
During the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Eco-92), which took place in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, the need to obtain practical answers to the concept of sustainable development was raised. Industrial ecology is one way to answer the question. Traditional proposals are focused on the prevention and reduction of waste, while industrial ecology understands that it may even be acceptable and beneficial to increase the production of a particular type of waste, as long as it can be used as a raw material in another industrial process.
In Brazil, the area of industrial ecology is still embryonic and mainly theoretical, but it has been expanding, especially in universities - a first step towards the implementation of practical uses. Worldwide, in addition to several published books, there are two scientific journals that publish articles related to the topic: o Journal of Industrial Ecology, released in 1997, and the Journal of Cleaner Production, 1993.
The field expanded greatly in the 1980s and 1990s, as warnings from ecologists about environmental degradation and the consequences of the current unrestrained industrialization model increased. One of the pioneering studies in the West was collective work Belgian ecosystem, developed by biologists, chemists and economists and dealing with ideas currently defended by industrial ecology such as considering waste as a raw material for other processes, emphasizing the importance of the circulation of materials in the system and monitoring the system's energy flows.
Industrial ecology is still in a construction stage, but it already demonstrates great potential in the face of environmental problems. Professionals such as engineers and administrators, as well as economists and politicians, can find in the concept a vast field for action and study of new solutions, so necessary for the industrial area. The path of industrial ecology allows companies to spend less resources, by reusing what has already been used once, and to avoid future waste, promoting a better integration of man with nature.
