In the pursuit of commercial solutions for environmental issues, individual problems are often identified, considered and resolved in isolation from other environmental matters and always at the end of the cycle - after the problem has been created._x000D_
Inter-relationships are neglected if they are not seen to obviously impact on a specific problem and the issue at hand is plucked from the environmental landscape and dealt with in total isolation to all else._x000D_
In a Zero Waste approach to environmental matters, all outputs are pursued as potential inputs. Industrial processes are viewed as a variation on nature's theme and opportunity pursued above all else._x000D_
When viewed from this perspective, industry appears to have forgotten its origins. It has forgotten that it is principally about people. The juggernaut of global trade has forgotten that it is a small part of a big landscape and that its principal participants, people, cannot exist without healthy soil._x000D_
Commercial activity in all parts of the world relies heavily on the ability of agriculture to produce the necessary inputs for industrial production._x000D_
The care and nurturing of our soils is fundamental, not only to the survival of humanity, but also to the economic systems that support that humanity and to the industry which profits by it._x000D_
Actual levels of domestic recycling in many countries around the world seldom reflect the 90 plus per cent desire to recycle recorded in surveys conducted by local authorities in almost every country._x000D_
If the desire to recycle is far removed from the end result, why is it that the systems provided are so ineffective? It is obvious that what we do need is a recycling system that both engages and rewards the participant and stimulates the innate desire to support the environment._x000D_
A recent trial in New South Wales, Australia, demonstrated that by giving individual households credits for recycling organic wastes, not only will contamination levels fall dramatically, but increased yields, improved soil structure, improved land values, reduced fertiliser costs and increased water use efficiency give the farmer good economic reasons for purchasing and applying quality composted product._x000D_
By underpinning and securing the agricultural community, we secure the future of industry._x000D_
The City to Soil' project linked the economic on-farm benefits of compost use with reduced contamination through the provision of rewards paid for by the purchase of product by the farmer._x000D_
FORMAL CITATION:Gillespie, G, 2006. Industrial sustainability, soils and systems design, in Proceedings Green Processing 2006, pp 3-6 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).