Building materials and industrial ecology

Industry affects the environment through extracting natural raw material, through the process up to the finished product, and through the discharge of waste. The air is harmed most by fuel-burning power stations and by plants that smelt metal, refine oil or fire cement. Waste water from chemical, wood and coal enterprises and from dairy and meat plants reaches water bodies. Land is damaged most by mines, quarries and building-materials plants. Measures aimed at protecting the environment are called the ecologization of industry. When siting an enterprise, the ecological factor is considered along with raw material, fuel, transport, energy, water and labour: the harm to the atmosphere, water and land, the amount of waste and how to neutralize it are assessed in advance. Every enterprise must pass an environmental expertise before it is built. Metallurgy creates large pits and waste heaps, and harmful gases and heavy metals pass into soil, water and living bodies and endanger health. To prevent this, waste is processed (for example, slag is turned into building material), gases and water are cleaned and damaged land is restored.