VIEWPOINT
Strategies for Promoting a Sustainable Industrial Ecology MATTHIAS RUTH
Businesses can improve operations by capitalizing on the collective knowledge of their human resources. ithin the emerging field of industrial ecology—a systems view of industrial processes—most attention has been given to product- and technology-related issues. Rarely addressed are requirements for humans to effectively process information and generate new knowledge that promotes sustainable practices in a complex system of interrelated activities and interacting businesses. Optimally, industrial ecology must be understood in all contexts, including human, because it has farreaching implications for product design, technology choice, consumer behavior, market dynamics, and design of institutions (i). Industrial ecology interrelates diverse business activities and their environments, with the goal of optimizing materials and energy use, as well as reducing environmental impacts of the economy (2).
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Sources of complexity Complexity arises from the myriad of interactions possible within the marketplace. Decisions made by one business may drive adjustments elsewhere within the industrial ecosystem. Responses may not occur instantaneously or in direct proportion to the original stimulus. Changes in product characteristics in one business may alter its waste flow volume and chemical characteristics, swaying the waste recipient to invest in new handling technology. This may allow easier accommodation of a wider range of waste streams, opening up opportunities for other businesses to cost-effectively change 2 8 0 A • JULY 1, 1999/ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS
© 1999 American Chemical Society
production technologies and product specifications. For example, recent developments by some car manufacturers—to facilitate disassembly and waste separation—will put in place know-how and infrastructure that could benefit other producers of consumer products. Businesses must develop a sound understanding of processes underlying such system changes and procedures in order to anticipate, analyze, and respond to the myriad of possible, interrelated, time-lagged feedback relationships that can emerge. Although decision making becomes complex, as the level of interaction increases, opportunities to work advantageously within the complicated marketplace exist. For example, businesses can reduce environmental impacts by identifying waste streams generated by one business that can be used by others. Regardless of what options are chosen, information needs to be shared more effectively. This includes information about the characteristics of raw materials, waste streams, and products, as well as features of current and future technologies, current and future markets, legal issues surrounding ownership of patents, liability, regulatory requirements, and cost accounting. In summary, virtually all business aspects need to be brought in synch with each other and environmental goals. Markets and government initiatives Markets coordinate the daily activities of diverse businesses and are effective conduits of information needed for decision making. Given this behavior, one can reasonably ask why there are not more markets for waste products. Market homogeneity is a major factor. Waste product markets work best when materials traded on them accrue in bulk and are relatively homogeneous—as are scrap markets for metals such as copper, iron, and steel, although even these markets are plagued by drastic price fluctuations that make long-term investment decisions difficult. Markets for less homogeneous materials, such as plastics, or highly specialized chemicals, such as solvents, are less efficient. They are more difficult to initiate, maintain, and operate smoothly, and information, transaction, storage, and processing costs are often prohibitively high in comparison to the value of the materials involved. Consequendy, sales and purchases of heterogeneous or specialized materials are typically for waste-to-energy conversion rather than for capitalizing on material properties of wastes—-heat content is more readily quantified and exploited. The number of potential buyers and sellers should rise, and new markets for sale and purchase of wastes should emerge as environmental costs associated with raw material use and waste generation increase. Moreover, society is continually increasing the value it places on environmental goods and services and raising demands on industry to reduce environmental impacts. Still, a vast array of material flows through the economy remains outside the marketplace. Government and industry must work together to address uncertainties surrounding these waste streams and solve associated environmental impact problems.
Innovative government waste stream regulations have decreased the costs of waste minimization and recycling opportunity. Government-sponsored initiatives for development and implementation of new environmental technologies should focus on lowering waste reduction (or handling) costs, relative to raw materials extraction, and use, and on encouraging marketbased transactions between those who generate wastes and those who can use them. Can consultants help? Consultants assist companies by closing information gaps between producers and potential waste users and between technology developers and regulatory agencies. Their contribution derives from knowledge of the business, technology, and regulatory environment in which companies operate and their ability to relate their knowledge to the internal workings of a company's operation. They support corporate efforts to identify sustainable practices in an environment characterized by mergers, downsizing, outsourcing, and continuous redefinition of job responsibilities. Yet by relying on outside consultant services, business enterprises risk buying into generic problemsolving approaches. Consultants seek generalized approaches aimed at meeting common customer needs and take advantage of economies of scale in developing and selling their products and services. Such approaches are continuously repackaged to extend their apparent appeal to business customers. On the contrary, some of the most effective solutions to a company's problems with emissions, material and energy use, and choice of technology arise from understanding the nuances of its own particular operations. These latter solutions are difficult to find and can be prohibitively expensive if they require an outsider to identify them. An in-house opportunity For companies to efficiently promote a sustainable industrial ecology from within, they must capture and leverage their collective knowledge about their emissions, technology, and use of materials and energy. All who individually carry that knowledge must collectively engage in a dialogue that interrelates insights about individual components of each operation, until a comprehensive corporate technological, product, and organizational profile is outlined. On site, production managers and engineers provide insight into material and energy requirements of individual processes, as well as waste stream quantities and characteristics; marketing personnel identify opportunities for sales of products and undesired byproducts; accountants provide information on costs associated with alternatives; and others add information on market dynamics and future technology options. Computer-based modeling facilitates mapping of the diverse knowledge of corporate experts and fosters dialogue among in-house staff, outside consultants, and government representatives (3). New graphical programming languages can establish a transparent repository of expert knowledge, enabling computer users less familiar with complex JULY 1, 1999 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 2 8 1 A
modeling and programming tools to assess consequences of alternative assumptions about individual system components and their interactions. Understandable models of complex, dynamic systems can thus be built, communicated, and used to generate consensus about strategies for promoting sustainable industrial practices. Contributors must be intellectually vested and buy into the structure and assumptions of models for modeling-based dialogue among experts and across hierarchies of decision making to succeed—they need to see how their efforts are reflected in the overall picture. Posting the model on a company's employeeaccessible intranet enables access, encouraging individual input and monitoring of model development in relation to contributions of others. The assembly of knowledge must come from inside the company to ensure that information is freely shared, that the subtle interrelationships among technology choice, material and energy use, waste generation, busidecision making, market performance, and ulatory constraints are captured, and that decision makers dealing with different parts of thp system always see the pieces that make UD a model and the composite picture resulting from all pieces interacting with each other The assembled model should examine a wide range of what-if scenarios This permits model validation and enables users to gain confidence in its ability to properly represent the organization identify implications of alternative decisions and find opnortunities for iirmroving envi ronmental performanrp Onrp model canabilities are
understood, it can serve as a business operation's surrogate for quickly and cheaply testing management decisions, avoiding costly real-system mistakes. The pluralism of perspectives captured by this modeling approach can identify key features and behaviors of complex systems otherwise not observed and ensures the usefulness of models for generating new knowledge a n d providing desired decision supports. Businesses that empower their human resources enable them to share perspectives and contribute to a collective model of the systems with which they deal. The approach can reveal novel ways to optimize use of materials and energy and reduce environmental impacts. In documenting existing knowledge and generating its own platform from which new knowledge Ccin grow the approach also permits businesses to internally create new TG~ sources tlicit SLTG essential to its success.
References (1) Socolow, R,, Andrews, C, Berkhout, E, and Thomas, V, Eds. Industrial Ecology and Global Change, Cambridge University Press: New York, 1994. (2) Jeliniski, L.; Graedel, T; Laudise, R.; McCall, D.; Patel, C. Industrial ecology: Concepts and approaches. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sett,992, 89, 793-797. (3) Hannon, B.; Ruth, M. Dynamic Modellng, ,pringer Verlag: New York, 1994. Matthias Ruth is an associate professor in the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University in Massachusetts.
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