In 1987, the United Nations published a document that challenged the economic orthodoxy of the relationship between development and environmental degradation. Called Our Common Future 1, it emphasised the concept of ‘sustainable development’. In theory, sustainable development simply means meeting the needs of the present generation, without compromising the needs of future generations. The true challenge of sustainable development lies in putting the theory into practice. Cleaner production provides a practical way of moving towards sustainable development. Cleaner production allows the producers of goods and the providers of services to produce more with less — less raw material, less energy, less.
