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01 – An Industrial Symbiosis-based restructuring proposal to overcome the environmental crisis affecting the steelwork-centred industrial district in Taranto, Italy

Taranto is a provincial industrial district in Southern Italy, centred on the Ilva steelworks and mainly including oil refineries, power plants, and cement and construction companies, but also small agro industries and a large beer factory. The area also includes the municipality of Taranto. The industrial district was founded in 1960s, as a result of…

02 – The evolution of the pulp and paper mill on the river Kymijoki in Kuusankoski, Finland: a company driving Industrial Symbiosis in its district to follow market variability

The UPM Kymi pulp and paper mill was founded in 1872. Since then, the mill has undergone alternative periods of high and low production, always adopting symbiotic approaches, even if not officially recognised as Industrial Symbiosis, to adapt to changing market conditions. An industrial district has slowly developed by the mill, including power plants, several…

03 – The Portuguese experience of the Relvão Eco Industrial Park: influencing contextual factors to overcome legislative barriers

The Relvão Eco Industrial Park (REIP) in Portugal is a project started in 2006 thanks to the jointed efforts of several different stakeholders, among which the Portuguese Government, the Chamusca Municipality Government, the Technical University of Lisbon, together with industrial companies and entrepreneurs. Current and planned development for the Industrial Park includes pulp and paper…

04 – The Kalundborg industrial cluster in Denmark: self-organisation of symbiotic exchanges to overcome resource scarcity

The Kalundborg industrial cluster in Denmark is one of the most famous examples of Industrial Symbiosis and it has often been used as a reference case in literature. The initial creation of symbiotic relationships in the area is dated back to the 1960s, when the local refinery set up a project to start using the…

05 – The industrial district of the Humber Region in the UK: a case where one-to-one initiatives and negotiation allowed Industrial Symbiosis implementation

The Humber region is one of the largest harbour complexes in the UK, hosting industrial companies from a range of sectors since 1960s. The industrial district is mainly constituted by food processing, chemicals, furniture, iron and steel and other metals as well as oil and gas production facilities. Efforts to promote Industrial Symbiosis implementation in…

06 – The aluminium-centred industrial district in Gladstone, Australia: from a spontaneous, to a facilitated, to a spontaneous form of symbiosis

Gladstone is one of the main mineral industrial cluster in Australia. The district of enterprises is situated in Queensland, near the municipality of Gladstone, and is mainly composed by aluminium production companies and alumina refineries, cement industries, power plants, petroleum extraction facilities, steelworks, nickel and cobalt refineries. Main peculiarities of the Gladstone area are relatively…

07 – The Rizhao Economic and Technology Development Area: a typical Chinese industrial symbiosis developent

The Rizhao Economic and Technology Development Area (REDA) is an industrial park located near Rizhao, a port city in eastern China, founded in 1991. Since its foundation, REDA has quickly developed to include a huge number of different businesses, mainly cereal oil and food, breweries and distilleries, chemical companies, pulp and paper factories, machine production…

08 – The South-Korean symbiotic experience of the Ulsan industrial park: Industrial Symbiosis encouraged by legislation and public awareness

The Ulsan industrial park in South Korea is one of the six parks involved in the project run by the Korea National Cleaner Production Centre affiliated to the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology in collaboration with the Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy since 2006, with the aim of guiding existing industrial parks in…

09 – The pharmaceutical-dominated industrial cluster of Barceloneta, Puerto Rico: intra and inter sectorial cooperation for production costs reduction

The area of Barceloneta, in Puerto Rico, has historically attracted industrial companies due to its abundant groundwater supplies. In particular, thirteen pharmaceutical plants are operating in the district, and the pharmaceutical sector is therefore the dominant industrial sector in the region. In addition, the district also includes chemicals, metals, food, and energy companies. The challenge…

10 – The experience of the Guitang Group in the Guanxi province in China, leading the industrial development of the region through intra and inter firm symbiosis implementation

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guangxi province in Southern Central China) is one of the most important Chinese provinces as regards sugar production. The region hosts the Guitang Group, which operates one of China’s largest sugar refineries, and was established by the State in 1956 (it later became a stock company owned by Shenzen Huaqiang…

11 – Transforming fruit pulp waste into animal feed: a facilitated Industrial Symbiosis exchange in Turkey

The Iskenderun Bay in Turkey is an industrial area covering the municipalities of Adana, Merson, Iskenderun and Osmaniye. It includes companies from several different industrial sectors among which mining and quarrying, food processing and agro industries. Between January 2011 and February 2014 the area was involved in the project “Industrial Symbiosis Project in Iskenderun Bay…

12 – The Spremberg paper mill in Germany: attracting new partners in the region to overcome the lack of suitable facilities

The Hamburger Rieger GmbH paper mill in Spremberg, Germany, has been working since 2005. A few years later, in 2008, it started a partnership with an energy production company to start reusing waste pulper and sludge for electricity production. A new CHP plant was therefore designed and built in the region. The mill is the…

13 – Industrial Symbiosis in the Nanning Sugar Co., Ltd in China: expanding the value chain by seeking new symbiotic opportunities

Nanning Sugar Co., Ltd. is one of the largest sugar corporations in China, based in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guangxi province in Southern Central China). Over the past decades, the company has moved towards a permanent integration of Industrial Symbiosis in its development strategy. While seeking competitive advantage and improving its environmental impact, the…

14 – Spontaneous symbiosis inspired by local waste reuse culture and tradition: the experience of the Nanjangud Industrial Area in India

The two neighbouring towns of Nanjangud and Mysore in the state of Karnataka, South India, host a large and diverse group of industrial companies, including both small and large, multinational enterprises. Main industrial sectors represented in Nanjangud Industrial Area (NIA) are food and drinks producers, agro industries, chemical and pulp and paper companies, manufacturer of…

15 – The case of the symbiotic network in Landskrona, Sweden: industrial symbiosis as a means to update the development model of an industrial region

The industrial town of Landskrona in South-West Sweden is the first example of official Industrial Symbiosis programme implementation in its Country, initiated in 2003. The area includes more than twenty companies of different sizes and from different industrial sectors (including steelworks, chemical companies, printing and automotive sector, waste management, agro industries and more). The programme…

16 – The industrial district of Kwinana in Australia: Industrial Symbiosis development guided by industries association

The industrial cluster of Kwinana, in Australia, is one of the biggest and most diverse heavy industries concentration in the Country. The industrial cluster was founded in the 1950s and has expanded since then, including several facilities (power and cogeneration plants, air separation facilities, water treatment plants, etc.) and a wide range of different companies,…

17 – The PODEBA project: a partnership between industry and research institutes to rediscover an old production process for leather products

The “PODEBA – Use of poultry dejections for the bathing phase in the tanning industry” project was led by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA) in collaboration with Italian and Spanish representatives of leather products producers. Several agro industries were also involved in the project as donors of waste…

18 – A symbiotic exchange between an alcoholic drinks and a firewood producer in Scotland: a case of facilitated dialogue with local institutions to overcome legislative barriers

The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme in the UK acted for several years as a facilitator to create several symbiotic exchanges across the whole Country. In this specific case, it helped the implementation of a profitable symbiotic exchange between a manufacturer of alcoholic drinks and a start-up producing firewood out of old whisky barrels, both based…

19 – The Bussi chemical site in Italy: a case in which the opposition of the local community prevented a full Industrial Symbiosis implementation

The chemical site located on the river Tirino in Abruzzo is one of the oldest industrial clusters in Italy, founded at the beginning of last century. The cluster includes basic chemicals producers, pesticides and silicates manufacturers, as well as power stations. Despite the very long history of the industrial area, Industrial Symbiosis has never been…

20 – Industrial Symbiosis implementation programme in West Midlands, UK: a case in which the leadership of the regional environmental association and the openness of participating companies allowed the identification of several new exchanges

The West Midlands region, situated in the area around Birmingham, has been the focus of an Industrial Symbiosis implementation project led by the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK. In this case, the NISP exploited the interest generated by the previous programme implemented in the Humber region (Case 5) and tried to repeat…

21 – Exchanges between companies from the chemical and oil and gas sector in the Mersey Banks area, UK: a programme facilitated by a local sectorial association and government body

The Mersey river estuary, located in North-West England, represents the third attempt of the Business Council for Sustainable Development of the United Kingdom (BCSD-UK) to implement an Industrial Symbiosis programme in an industrial district in UK (the first two were located in the Humber region, Case 5, and in West Midlands, Case 20). This project…

22 – Using industrial waste heat and Carbon Dioxide in greenhouses: a facilitated symbiotic exchange in UK between a nitrogen producer and a tomato grower

The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK acted for several years as a facilitator to create several symbiotic exchanges across the whole Country. In this specific case, it helped the implementation of a profitable symbiotic exchange between a nitrogen producer capturing steam and Carbon Dioxide and a neighbouring tomato grower, which uses the…

23 – Producing renewable energy from dairy effluents: a facilitated symbiosis exchange in Northern Ireland, UK

The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK acted for several years as a facilitator to create several symbiotic exchanges across the whole Country. In this specific case, and in collaboration with the Industrial Symbiosis Service in Northern Ireland, it helped the implementation of a profitable symbiotic exchange between an electricity producer and a…

24 – Using waste wood for space heating: the facilitated symbiotic exchange implemented by a sheet metal parts producer in Northern Ireland, UK

The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK acted for several years as a facilitator to create several symbiotic exchanges across the whole Country. In this specific case, and in collaboration with the Industrial Symbiosis Service in Northern Ireland, it helped the implementation of a profitable symbiotic exchange between a sheet metal parts producer…

25 – The “BIO4BIO” project in Sicily, Southern Italy: a case in which researchers helped companies in exploiting their know-how and local agro industries’ waste to create new symbiotic exchanges and access new markets

The “BIO4BIO” project supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) and led by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA) is aimed at valorising waste from agroindustry, one of the most diffused industrial sectors in Southern Italy. Within the scope of this project, several new symbiotic…

26 – The “Green Economy and Sustainable Development” project in Emilia Romagna, Italy: identifying new potential symbiotic exchanges using an IT matchmaking tool

The project “Green Economy and Sustainable Development” was started in 2013 by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA). The aim of the project was to identify new potential symbiotic exchanges in the Emilia Romagna region, one of the most industrialised regions in Italy. Main companies taking part into this…

27 – A symbiotic network developed around an energy production district: the case of the Norrköping municipality and the island of Händelö, Sweden

The municipality of Norrköping in Sweden is home to a well-established and well-developed Industrial Symbiosis network. In particular, the urban area and surrounding industrial and agricultural activities have developed a series of exchanges and symbiotic connections over time, showing an always-increasing attention to environmental and resource scarcity and security issues. Main companies in the network…

28 – A facilitated symbiotic exchange between a frozen food supplier and an anaerobic digestion plant in the UK: improving waste management by exploiting facilitator’s network

The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK acted for several years as a facilitator to create several symbiotic exchanges across the whole Country. In this specific case, it helped the implementation of a profitable symbiotic exchange between a supplier of frozen food and an anaerobic digestion plant, both based in the UK. The…

29 – Implementing Industrial Symbiosis to scale up solar photovoltaic cells manufacturing in the United States

Given the increasing world energy demand and the scarcity of fossil fuels, solar photovoltaic (PV) cells are always more considered as one of the most suitable and sustainable alternatives. Nevertheless, their fabrication requires a considerable amount of energy and resources, processed by companies such as flat glass and photovoltaic modules producers, as well as semiconductor…

30 – Implementing Industrial Symbiosis to reduce pollution in Chinese resource dependent cities: the case of Guiyang

Guiyang is a large urban area located in southwest China, and the capital of Guizhou province. The economy of the city is based on mining and material process industry, and is therefore highly dependent on natural resources exploitation. Guiyang is considered a resource-dependent city by the Chinese government who appointed it as a pilot for…

31 – The iron/steel production centred urban and industrial district of Liuzhou, China: improving Industrial Symbiosis to balance environment protection and economic development

Liuzhou is an industrial city in southern China, in Guangxi province, home to a large industrial district, mainly composed by heavy industries such as iron and steel, automotive, cement, chemical and energy production. Some symbiotic exchanges have traditionally always been spontaneously implemented in the district, especially those involving iron and steel and cement companies, forming…

32 – A symbiotic district creation led by and iron and steel corporation: the case of Jinan municipality, China

Jinan is the largest and capital city in Shandong province, China. The history and economy of Jinan is closely linked to its iron and steel corporation, one of the most important industries in the area and in the whole Country. Apart from the iron and steel corporation, Jinan also hosts several chemical companies and cement…

33 – Energy and bio-char auto production in an olive farm and mill in Southern Italy: a symbiosis example between agricultural and energy production processes

A small olive-grove farm with olive mill located in Southern Italy, within Foggia municipality, has been the focus of a study conducted by the University of Thessaloniki and the University of Foggia in order to evaluate the feasibility to install a pyrolysis reactor in the production site. This would allow the farm to auto produce…

34 – The symbiotic industrial district of Guayama, Puerto Rico: a cooperation started to respond to environment protection emergencies and ended up in the creation of symbiotic exchanges

The town of Guayama in Puerto Rico, whose economy was mainly based on agriculture until 1960s, started its industrial history with the opening of a petrochemical refinery. Following that, pharmaceutical companies, power plants and road construction companies moved in the area, forming a new industrial district. The main challenge that first led to the creation…

35 – The Rhine Necktar region and the area of Heidelberg in Germany: a university-driven Industrial Symbiosis implementation

The area around the city of Heidelberg in Germany, on the Necktar river hosts the Pfaffengrund industrial estate. The estate is composed by a mix of companies from different sectors and of different sizes, and is included in the larger industrial area of the Rhine-Necktar region. The challenge that led to the creation of symbiotic…

36 – An Industrial Symbiosis approach to the reduction of tyre production waste sent to landfill: the case of Michelin in UK

Michelin is a large corporate with production plants all over the world. Waste streams of tyre production are several and of different nature, such as for example carbon black, talcum powder, etc. With the help of the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) the UK plant in Ballymena (Northern Ireland) approached the waste management issue including…

37 – A skilled workforce transforming used tarpaulins into new products: a facilitated symbiosis exchange in Northern Ireland, UK

The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK acted for several years as a facilitator to create several symbiotic exchanges across the whole Country. In this specific case, and in collaboration with the Industrial Symbiosis Service in Northern Ireland, it helped the implementation of a profitable symbiotic exchange between an aluminium alloy technology solutions…

38 – Alternative coffins’ padding made out of shredded paper: a facilitated symbiosis exchange in Northern Ireland, UK

The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in the UK acted for several years as a facilitator to create several symbiotic exchanges across the whole Country. In this specific case, and in collaboration with the Industrial Symbiosis Service in Northern Ireland, it helped the implementation of a profitable symbiotic exchange between a coffins manufacturer and a…

39 – Saving the coral reefs by finding an alternative use of spent grains from breweries: the Fiji project and the Monfort Boys Town Integrated Biosystem

The Monfort Boys Town Integrated Biosystem is a symbiotic system involving the municipality of Suva and companies located within the area of the Fiji’s capital city. The system mainly involves breweries, farms and energy producers. Symbiotic exchanges within the system have been identified during the Fiji project, in collaboration with the United Nations University. The…

40 – A facilitated Industrial Symbiosis implementation project on a large scale: the US experience in the Triangle J region

The Research Triangle Park, in the Triangle J Region, North Carolina (United States) is a large geographical region in which 182 companies have been connected by the means of symbiotic exchanges. Companies participating in the project were from a wide range of different sectors, including chemical, plastic, wood industries. The project that led to the…

41 – Symbiotic exchanges in the chemical cluster of Stenungsund, Sweden: companies sharing a common vision to reduce their environmental impact

The town of Stenungsund, Sweden, hosts a small industry cluster made up of five different chemical companies. The first industrial settlement in the area dates back to 1960s, and nowadays the five companies, all members of international groups, offer a wide range of products and intermediates to the market. Symbiotic exchanges within the cluster has…

42 – Symbiotic exchanges in a motorcycle district in Abruzzo, Italy: implementing Industrial Symbiosis within an automotive supply chain

The CISI (Consorzio Italiano Subfornitura Impresa) network is located in the Abruzzo Region, in Central Italy. Funded in 1992 by 13 companies, it has grown over time and now represents one of the most relevant industrial districts in the surrounding area. It is focused on motorcycle industry, and comprises a big motorcycles producer and a…

43 – Industrial and Urban Symbiosis in Kawasaki, Japan: a successful Industrial Symbiosis implementation guided by local and national government

Kawasaki is one of the largest cities in Japan, situated between Tokyo and Yokoama. It has always been one of the most productive industrial areas of the Country, hosting 74 industrial facilities. Companies in the area are mainly from the iron and steel industry, cement industry, chemical and pulp and paper sectors. Industrial Symbiosis implementation…

44 – Planning Industrial Symbiosis implementation in agro-food districts: the Italian experience of the Fucino Upland, in Abruzzo

The reuse of auxiliary materials, and of plastic materials in particular, from the agro-food sector has proved to be a complex issue. The University of Pescara has conducted a related study focused on the Fucino upland, in the Abruzzo region, Italy. This is one of the most important and productive agro-food complexes in the Country,…

45 – Symbiotic exchanges in the National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone of Suzhou, China

Suzhou city in the Jiangsu province, China, is home to one of the largest National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zones. The industrial district was established in 1992, and has grown since then to include electronics, iron and steel, textile and chemical industries. The challenge that led to Industrial Symbiosis development in the region was the strong…

46 – Intra and inter firm Industrial Symbiosis development as part of day by day operations as a means to develop and grow the business: the case of British Sugar in the UK

British Sugar is one of the biggest sugar producers in the UK, acquired by AB Sugar in 1991. The company has been growing over the year also thanks to Industrial Symbiosis and the always more important role played by the trading of its by-products. It has been exchanging waste materials with several industries, such as…

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