Manufacturers, under pressure from their major stakeholders, integrate environmental issues in the design and management of their products. These stakeholders include customers, regulators, employees, communities, and interest groups who have a common stake in protecting the earth from pollution and in limiting the exploitation of earth's limited natural resources. Manufacturers recognize that being environmentally responsible also offers competitive advantage to the firm. The Handbook of Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing is written as a state-of-the-art reference to guide environmentally conscious manufacturing (ECM). All the contributors have done extensive research and/or practice work in the field of ECM.

The Handbook covers all the major topics in Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing. There are specific chapters to deal with sustainable manufacturing, recycling, eco-labelling, life cycle assessment, and ISO 14000 series of standards, as well as decision-making aspects of Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing. Decision-oriented topics on supply chain, decision models, quality initiative, environmental costing and decision support systems are also covered. The influence of ECM on marketing imperative is also covered.

Chapter 1. Sustainable manufacturing

Chapter 2. Concepts and methodologies to help promote industrial ecology
Chapter 3. Systems design and innovations in circular economy
Chapter 4. Communicating product recovery activities
Chapter 4. Green design and quality initiatives
Chapter 6. Corporate and social responsibility
Chapter 7. Accounting for an environmentally conscious setting
Chapter 8. The development of eco-labelling schemes
Chapter 9. Green Advertising
Chapter 10. Petroleum production activities and depletion of biodiversity
Chapter 11. Recycling as Universal Resource Policy
Chapter 12. A Systematic Framework for Environmentally Conscious Design
Chapter 13. Environmental Attributes of Manufacturing Processes
Chapter 14. Environmental decision support systems
Chapter 15. Decision models for reverse production system design.- Environmentally sound supply chain management
Chapter 16. Environmentally sound supply chain management
Chapter 17. Climate Change: <i>Opportunities and Risks for the Manufacturing sector
Chapter 18. </i>Life cycle assessment
Chapter 19. Multi-pathway and cumulative risk-assessment
Chapter 20. Reclamation and recycling of municipal waste
Chapter 21. Environmental Marketing
Chapter 22. Challenging the future.