To a significant degree, the first edition of this book defined the new field of industrial ecology, the restructuring of technological activity to incorporate environmental concerns. Important topics from that book are updated here, among them
In addition, the new edition includes entire chapters on topics that are becoming or have become newly important to the field:
While still serving as a practical guide to product designers and corporate managers, the new edition also provides guidance for the broader task of mapping a societal evolution to a more sustainable world, thus justifying industrial ecology's label as "the science and technology of sustainability."