(1) Atom economy is a measure of the amount of atoms from the starting material that are present in the final product at the end of a chemical process. Good atom economy means most of the atoms of the reactants are incorporated in the desired products. Only small amount of waste is produced, hence lesser problem of waste disposal.
(2) The atom economy of a process can be calculated using the following formula.
The atom economy of the above reacijon is less than 50% and waste produced is higher.