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Sustainable Development and Environmental Reform
The barriers to industrial ecology fall into six categories, namely tech-
nical, market and information, business and financial, regulatory, legal, and
regional strategies as discussed in detail in Chapter 3.
Technical issues require a lot of innovation to convert waste into money
or prevent it at the source. The markets for waste materials will ultimately
rise or fall based on their economic vitality and can be enhanced through
information technology tools. One option for waste markets are dedicated
“waste exchanges” where brokers trade industrial wastes like other com-
modities. Developing business plans and providing financial support will help
promote the concept of industrial ecology. The private firm is the basic eco-
nomic unit and collectively constitutes the mechanism for producing inven-
tions and innovations to practice. The government should regulate planning
for industrial ecology and sustainable development. Industries tend to form
spatial clusters in specific geographic regions based on factors such as access
to raw materials, convenient transportation, technical expertise, and markets.
This requires regional strategies provided by local governorates and federal
government.

4.3 Sustainable Development Tools, Indicator, and Formula
Sustainable development and environmental protection cannot be achieved
without establishing the concept of industrial ecology. The main tools
necessary for establishing sustainable development and/or industrial ecology
are cleaner production, 7Rs rule, environmental management system and life
cycle assessment according to the cradle-to-cradle concept. The concept of
industrial ecology will help the industrial system to be managed and operated
more or less like a natural ecosystem according to the cradle-to-cradle con-
cept, hence causing the least damage as possible to the surrounding environ-
ment. The 7Rs Golden Rule encompasses Regulation, Reducing, Reusing,
Recycling, Recovering, Rethinking, and Renovation and is the basic tool for
industrial ecology.
Industrial ecology is a generic concept that leads to a methodology
which consists of more specialized tools that collectively transform an indus-
try to resemble a natural ecosystem. In addition, industrial ecology requires an
indicator to evaluate the performance of industries in implementing the IE
tools. The cradle-to-cradle is the main indicator of industrial ecology. The
degree to which cradle-to-cradle is achieved will give an indication of how
close industry is emulating nature’s ecosystems. Achieving industrial ecology
will lead to sustainability.
Therefore, the main indicator for sustainability as a result of previous
discussion is LCA based on a “cradle-to-cradle” concept rather than a “cra-
dle-to-grave” concept. In other words, “cradle-to-cradle” is the indicator
for sustainability. The degree to which cradle-to-cradle is achieved will
give an indication of how close the industry or any manmade activity is to