The US glass industry produces a wide variety of products for industri
al and end use purposes, Towards that end, large amounts of raw materi
als are extracted and used, energy is degraded and pollutants are gene
rated and released into the environment, The industry has long recogni
zed its influence on material cycles and energy hows through the econo
my-environment system, It is now in the process of adopting a systems
perspective to tackle the problems associated with its material and en
ergy use, To operationalize that systems perspective a dynamic compute
r model of the container, flat and fiberglass sectors of the industry
is developed on the basis of time series data, engineering information
and insights from industry experts. The model includes the extraction
stage of the main raw materials, transportation of raw materials and
discarded products - both back to producers and to landfills - and the
various manufacturing processes of the desired products, On the basis
of the model, material and energy use and CO2 emissions profiles for
the years 1988-2028 are quantified under a variety of scenarios on pro
duction rates, technology change and recycling. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scie
nce Ltd. All rights reserved.