If reducing waste can increase efficiency, why is the output of industrial waste still so great? What is the application of industrial ecology and life-cycle analysis to these problems?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Physical efficiency is not always equivalent to economic efficiency. Often it is cheaper for industry to generate waste than to avoid it. Market prices drive industry's decisions, even though market prices do not reflect external societal and ecological costs. Possible solutions to decrease waste and increase physical efficiency include the following: raising corporate waste?disposal costs and offering tax incentives to corporations that reduce waste; creating market systems that internalize ecological costs into the production process; and encouraging consumers to purchase recycled goods through price supports on recycled goods, or taxes on goods not made from recycled raw materials. The most recent progress is coming through the field of industrial ecology and its life-cycle analysis of waste. Companies that subscribe to life-cycle analysis concentrate on every category of waste and try to identify other companies that may be able to use their wastes as a resource, or to try to recycle materials. The Swiss Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI) have sponsored many such innovative projects of this type all over the world.