Dynamic Waste Management (DWM): A new step towards industrial ecology

The load caused by growing volumes of collected residues produces a pressure both on the environment and on the population. Presently, wastes are no longer considered just simple residues, but also resources which can be reused or recovered. Various tools are now available to help compare the various options in waste management. These tools lead to a linear management of the systems. In addition, they generate a division of flow streams and do not allow an optimal use of the available materials. An industrial ecology perspective requires one to move towards a systemic approach. Based on the law of conservation of energy, the Dynamic Waste Management approach (DWM) studies the behaviour of systems to insure a constant supply of favourable waste management options (WMO) and to reduce the global load within these systems. The flow distribution in a global system rests on the principle that the available volumes and the transportation influence the validity of the hierarchical organisation of WMO. Adhering to the philosophy of industrial ecology, the DWM offers a dynamic and evolutionary alternative to reduce the impacts generated by inadequate waste management. The present article exposes the characteristics of the proposed approach, and presents an example of its application in order to demonstrate the advantages of the DWM.