Björn Frostell
Industrial ecology is a broad discipline which studies and aims to understand society's metabolism of physical resources such as energy and raw materials, products and waste. This includes looking for ways to minimise the potential environmental impact and helping to restructure society to make it more sustainable.
KTH's research in this field includes the development of methods and tools that promote systemic understanding and holistic approaches at all levels of society. Björn Frostell's main research interest is methods that can contribute to erasing the difference between physical resources introduced to society and the waste that is removed from it, regardless of whether it is in a solid, liquid or gaseous form. At a fundamental level, it is the same atoms that are being moved around in the form of raw materials, products and waste. Realising this will give us more motivation to keep track of how these atoms move through society and nature.
The goal is to produce clearer accounts concerning the atoms that are currently being spread uncontrollably in the atmosphere, water and soil, and to put a price on them. This would mean that you could finally put a price on the environment, giving us even stronger reasons to introducing a more circular economy.