Steps to industrial ecology: reflections on theoretical aspects

Industrial ecology is assumed as a conceptual tool emulating models derived from natural systems and it is aimed at developing fundamentally new approaches to the industrial system environmentally-oriented reorganization. It implies two essential elements of definition: it is a concept involving a systemic approach to changes in goods manufacture, use and disposal and it is a concept related to the organization of new interactions among the industrial system structural components. Starting from these assumptions, this paper opens three possible paths to the theoretical implications of such a perspective: (1) The need to conceive sustainable industrial growth as a process of co-adaptation between natural and industrial systems; (2) The need for a better definition of the 'environment' of a manufacturing system; (3) The possibility of designing innovative interactions for manufacturers, consumers and decomposers as structural components of the industrial ecosystem.