What has become known as the Sustainability Hierarchy was first presented February 24th, 2008 at the Chartwell – Envirobiz Waste Industry Summit by Mr. Cary Perket to a group of executives from the resource recovery and waste management industry. The presentation was entitled: The Waste Management Hierarchy vs. the Resource Management Hierarchy. As is often case, Mr. Perket continued to develop the resource management hierarchy, changing the name to better reflect its ultimate purpose of developing sustainable strategies for using resources. The version of the Sustainability Hierarchy that is linked to this web page is an Envirobiz whitepaper finalized in February 2010.

In Perket's Sustainability Hierarchy there are nine elements, that if considered jointly provide for a comprehensive evaluation of the management of an individual resource. The underlying assumption of Perket's Sustainability Hierarchy is that creating an overall strategy for sustainability necessitates.

1. a comprehensive evaluation on a resource-by-resource basis

2. an analysis of the comparative merits of using individual resources when options to use different resources exist.

3. to determine optimal strategy for resource usage all nine elements need to be collectively examined.