VITO’S VIEW ON SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES
Nature provides essential resources to the system of production-consumption, including provisioning services or products (such as timber and fish) and regulation services, such as climate control, irrigation and flood regulation. However, natural resources are part of the endowment that we all share and by the very nature of this commonly shared characteristic, our society fails to conserve these assets. As a consequence, the worldwide surge of human populations and associated need (and sometimes the greed causing the over-consumption) for these resources and industrial growth is paralleled by a sharpening decline in the quantity and quality of the resources because of overexploitation. Production practices are being impacted by resource shortages and ecosystem degradation. So, the challenges to take into account sustainability into the management of resources are huge, both for local governments, world-wide policy-making organizations and industries.
VITO is an independent research institute which, for the benefit of government, industry and SMEs, stimulates sustainable management of resources with its specialized services and R&D in the fields of energy, environment and advanced materials. VITO studies both the use and management of fossil resources, biomass and inert materials and investigates the optimal (recycling or recovery) route for waste streams, taking into account the integration of ecological, technological, social and economic aspects. VITO has extensive expertise and models to perform sustainability assessments of products, processes and systems. Some specific issues we focus on:
- sustainable energy production;
- sustainable chemistry;
- closing the loop of product life cycles;
- recycling and re-use of waste (as a secondary raw material)
- ...
The unique position of VITO makes it a reliable scientific partner. We operate independently from politics and industry, but we have a good feeling of what is going on in the world of environmental affairs ministers, their administrations and enterprises. Moreover, VITO is tuned in to what is going on in the environmental field in Europe and within the European Commission.
LCA, our compass pointing at sustainability (PDF- new window)
Environmental Input-Output modelling: link between economy and ecology (PDF - new venster)
Product Carbon Footprint (PDF - new window)
VITO's vision on Cradle to Cradle (PDF - new window)
Life cycle thinking in waste management
Karakterisering, kwaliteitscontrole en schadediagnose van primaire en secundaire grondstoffen (coming soon)
Nutritech @ VITO (coming soon)
