Resumen de Entropy and Waste Recovery:: Between Thermodynamics and Economy
The notion of "waste" as opposite to "raw material" has been reviewed. Starting from a purely economic balance, we have drawn parallels to thermodynamic formalism that are further discussed. Our analogy is based on two ideas: the direct association of the notion of waste to entropy of mixing and the assumption as work hypothesis that its cost of recovery or separation is proportional to entropy. The proportionality factor, designated by analogy to thermodynamics as "ecotemperature", is characteristic for each recovery process, and provides an objective measure of its efficiency from an economic-environmental point of view.
