Industrial ecology construction industry

Maine, M.A., Sune, N., Hadad, H., Sanchez, G., and Bonetto, C., Nutrient and metal removal in a constructed wetland for wastewater treatment from a metallurgic industry, Ecological Engineering, 26, 341-347, 2006. 

One of the major sources of water pollution in East Africa is human waste. The effluents from untreated mimicipal sewers pose great danger to the conservation of a sustainable ecology in and around Lake Victoria. Municipal sewage contains both faeces and urine that are sources of phosphorus. Therefore let us make two assumptions that will enable us calculate the phosphorus contributions from these sources. Let us assume that each person produces 25-50 kg/yr of faeces which contain 0.18 kg P second, assume that each adult produces about 400 liters of urine per year, depending on liquid consumption, and contains 0.40 kg P. This is because municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants are known to be the major point sources of phosphorus in urban areas." Waste disposal sites, construction sites, fertilizers and farmyards also make substantial contribution to the total phosphorus load. However, all these have not been adequately evaluated. Given the number of sewered and unsewered municipalities and their populations in Table 2, one is able to calculate the amount of phosphorus produced. 

Water, air, and land pollution, and ecological destruction from industries producing construction materials (e.g., bricks, cement, asbestos) ... 

From a resource utilization viewpoint this seems to be an ecologically excellent development, as silicon oxide is the most available mineral on Earth. Industrial processes needed to process minerals into useable products do, however, create wastes and consume energy. Sustainable production means that no aspects of human life should be threatened by this processing and that its products should improve living conditions on Earth. The Bmndtland Commission states that sustainable development must be based on availability of metals and materials for use in building, construction, transportation, tools, and necessary equipment. 

For the system that produces the components for construction, the question remains as to how this system and, for that matter, the overall industrial system should behave if it is to follow ecological principles. James Kay, an ecologist and professor at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, suggests a set of rules for use in considering how to make the transition from today s industrial system, which would of course include the construction industry, to one that operates in concert rather than in conflict with ecosystems [2]. These four rules are ... 

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