Abstract

The implementation of industrial ecology often involves choices among differing materials or technologies, each of which embodies a set of potential impacts on raw materials supplies, energy use in manufacture and in service, and air, water, and soil quality. Reasoned choices among product and process options can only be made if impacts are prioritized, a task that has received insufficient attention to date and that must be done by cooperative efforts among a number of interested parties. Several prioritization efforts are reviewed and compared with recommendations for optimal approaches to prioritization in industrial ecology.

Introduction

All industrial activities have some effect on the external environment. Energy and raw materials are consumed, materials are transformed, byproducts are generated, and some degree of waste is produced. Many of the impacts of industrial activity on the environment can be eliminated by thoughtful product and process design and execution. At some point, however, the straightforward actions have all been taken, and choices between impacts present themselves. Product designers, for example, may want to consider whether a particular metal, a plastic, or a composite would have the lowest environmental impacts. It is here that prioritizing impacts becomes vital.

Such prioritization cannot be accomplished by industry alone. Rather, industrial efforts must ultimately be related to larger societal efforts concerning risk comparison and prioritization. The participation of the community of environmental scientists is needed to define and evaluate the different types of risks posed by different environmental hazards. Broader public participation is needed to weigh the relative importance of different types of impacts (human health, ecosystem, and economic), which occur over different time scales, and about which there are different degrees of scientific uncertainty.