Recycling and material flow of the world

Environmental protection or recycling is currently one of the key issues for many industrial firms. Sustainable development, zero-emission and inverse manufacturing are becoming very common keywords used in the justification of today's projects. However, those who use these words are more often than not world lenders in the consumption of energy and natural resources. One is led to the conclusion, therefore, that these people must be hypocrites or ignorant or, alternatively, that the phrase sustainable is misused and should be restricted to a very concise meaning. If the paradigm of sustainability is not well defined, then if serves no purpose. Countries of OECD members are responsible for about a half the total energy consumption. The goal of "zero-emission" is impossible in view of thermodynamics and the practicalities of engineering. The only way to achieve the true sustainability on the planet, therefore is to set industrial activity to within some equilibrium magnitude of energy supplied to the planet by the solar system. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.