Material Dissipative Conditions and the Impossibility of Complete Recycling

The preservation of the natural environment requires a reduction in material intensity of economic systems. Recycling is a major method for meeting this requirement. One of the most appropriate formulations for economic recycling models is the introduction of recycling sectors and joint production of waste materials. The models are generally checked for the feasibility of net-production. Such models may be able to realize complete recycling material resources, but this is clearly impossible due to the unrecoverable material dissipation in economic production processes. The result is that the models have sometimes reproduced material resources larger than the amount of inputted virgin material. This paper introduces the material dissipative conditions and the material transferability system appropriate for recognizing the material dissipation of economic systems with recycling sectors.