ABSTRACT
The concept of recycling, re-using and implementing cleaner technologies for manufacturing industries has found wide support. Despite 20 years of paper recycling and the introduction of sustainable forest management, the rainforests continue to diminish and demand continues to rise for tropical forest products. The production of pulp and paper in China demonstrates the differences between, as well as the complementarity, of cleaner production, recycling and Zero Emissions. In fact, the demand for the recycling of toxic chemicals and the need to engineer complex closed-loop systems has been eliminated altogether. Cleaner production, industrial ecology and the reduce-re-use-recycle programmes are important first steps in the process of steering business and society towards sustainability. But they cannot be the only steps. The drive towards cleaner production provides the right mindset, but the objective must be zero waste and zero emissions if humanity is to succeed in UpSizing.
