‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

Is the construction industry beginning to take on board industrial ecology? 
We are a long way from construction ecology.
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Waste minimization strategies in the building sector 
aim only to reduce or recycle the extra waste caused by the project itself, not pre-existing or off-site 
waste. The main activities where resource efficiencies and recycling are currently practised are:
•
In construction: modular and prefabricated systems, dimensions for standard material sizes, 
detailed construction documentation, and specifying recycled materials 
• 
In demolition: design for deconstruction, reuse and retrofitting 
• 
In operation: design for maintenance and renovation; design for adaptability and flexibility 
Our building science tools enable us to 
substitute
better industrial materials and technologies for 
worse ones, by estimating life-cycle impacts. But this generally leads to only marginal reductions in 
impacts. As we have seen, closing loops, increasing resource efficiency or reusing waste generated 
by conventional design does not in itself reduce the ecological impacts upstream caused by mining, 
agriculture or forestry. Likewise, processes like geo-sequestration and incineration only slow the 
accumulation of impacts and disruption of habitats. They only deal with part of the emissions or solid 
wastes after they are produced. Further, every time something is recycled there is a loss of material 
and energy. Nonetheless, they can be important in a mix of pragmatic steps. What is missing from 

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Development Standards and Criteria
the suite of responsible waste management practices is the pre-construction phase, such as design 
that uses less total materials and energy, sourced in ways that are far less damaging to habitats and yet 
serve more functions. To increase the health and resilience of the ecological base and generate positive 
off-site social and ecological impacts, both eco-efficiency and eco-logical design are needed.