You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (June 2022) Click for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 6,178 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at :fr:Industrie légère; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Industrie légère}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industries and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for end users rather than as intermediates for use by other industries. Light industry facilities typically have a less environmental impact than those associated with heavy industry. For that reason, zoning laws are more likely to permit light industry near residential areas.^[1]

One definition states that light industry is a "manufacturing activity that uses moderate amounts of partially processed materials to produce items of relatively high value per unit weight".^[2]

Characteristicsedit

Compared to heavy industries, light industries require fewer raw materials, space, and power. While light industry typically causes little pollution, particularly compared to heavy industry, some light industries can cause significant pollution or risk of contamination. For example, electronics manufacturing, itself often a light industry, can create potentially harmful levels of lead or chemical wastes in soil without proper handling of solder and waste products (such as cleaning and degreasing agents used in the manufacture).

Industry sectorsedit

• Food industry

• Paper making
• Plastic
• Leather industry
• Textiles
• Household electric appliances

General-use productsedit

• Kitchen and dining products
• Beauty and personal care
• Home textiles
• Cleaning and storage
• Clock, watch, and eyewear
• Gardening
• Household sundries
• Advertising and packaging

Historyedit

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2022)

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "light industry" from 1916 onwards.^[3]

Within the later stages of the Industrial Revolution, the development of light industry tended to precede that of heavy industry.^[4]

Referencesedit

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