Eco-innovation: its inverse relationship with natural resources use and waste generation

Contemporary society still bases much of its economic development on the extraction and consumption of natural resources. Industrial production, which uses these resources, has caused negative impacts on the environment. Not only because of the increasing amount produced, but also due to the product designs and manufacturing processes that do not account for these impacts. Some alternative proposals have emerged to manage environmental problems in industry reflecting major
awareness of the limitations of natural resources, as well as the negative effects of greenhouse gases emissions and environmental degradation. Both aspects are primarily driven by the development of industry and society’s patterns of production and consumption. The growing concern regarding the ecological crisis has led to a new idea that a more sustainable economy requires an absolute reduction in the use of natural resources on a global scale. The decoupling formulation means a reduction in the rate of use of primary resources per unit of economic activity. This dematerialization is based on less use of material resources, energy, water and land, generating the same amount of economic output. New modes to confront environmental problems depend, at least in part, on environmental innovations. Also known as eco-innovations, this type of innovation can help to reduce the consumption of natural resources, greenhouse gases emissions and the generation of waste. This study proposes ecoinnovation as a more efficient way of using less natural resources. The discussion takes into consideration the decoupling proposal.