Industrial ecology: a new paradigm?

Abstract

The aim of industrial ecology is to design and re-design industrial systems, by using nature as a metaphor and model. In this way far less non-renewable resources will be used and far less emissions and wastes will be released to the natural environment than up to now. Many approaches to industrial ecology are attempted, varying from those looking upon industrial ecology as a method for waste recycling to those who see industrial ecology as a new paradigm in a wider social perspective . By going into some of the central literature in industrial ecology, it will be examined to what extent the theoretical perspectives, methodology and practical experiences within industrial ecology can be seen as a new paradigm