As global population and affluence has increased, so has the use of various materials increased in volume, diversity and distance transported. Included here are raw materials, minerals, synthetic chemicals (including hazardous substances), manufactured products, food, living organisms and waste.

Sustainable use of materials has targeted the idea of dematerialization, converting the linear path of materials (extraction, use, disposal in landfill) to a "Material flow accounting" circular flow that reuses materials as much as possible, much like the cycling and reuse of waste in nature.

Waste Managementis the collection,transport, processing, recycling or disposal, and monitoring of, waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment, or aesthetics. It can involve solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive substances, with different methods and fields of expertise for each. Waste management is also carried out to recover resources so that they may be recycled or reprocessed. 

This approach is supported by product stewardship and the increasing use of material flow analysis at all levels, especially individual countries and the global economy. To reduce waste, industry, business and government are now mimicking nature by turning the waste produced by industrial metabolism into a resource. Dematerialization is being encouraged through the ideas of industrial ecology, ecodesign and ecolabelling.