ABSTRACT
The environmental condition of the Ruhr area is not a problem caused but rather perceived during the past 20 years. Waste water and air pollution, contaminated soil and hazardous waste have long been closely connected to the process of economic growth in this region. In the early 1970s there was for the first time a broad discussion about environmental problems and the start of different political measures aimed at the reduction of pollution and contamination. This was the crucial point concerning the rise of the environmental protection industry in the Ruhr area, because these new measures were organized in a way that facilitated the transformation of problems into market opportunities.
