A PRACTICAL MODEL FOR INITIATING OR FURTHER DEVELOPING

INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS

Romain Sacchi

Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University

Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is defined by the collaborative reuse of waste within an

industrial area. Early models of IS put emphasis on its physical drivers. But these drivers
alone often fail to explain its perennial development, pointing to the importance of social
embeddedness. Yet, the somewhat abstract definitions of social embeddedness create the
need to develop a pragmatic model that identifies physical, organizational and social
facilitating mechanisms. Lastly, it is explained that efforts in developing awareness about
IS should target potential social carriers of techniques that have the necessary capital,
knowledge and technical capacity to implement IS.
Keywords: eco-industrial park, facilitate, driver, uncovering, Kalundborg

1. INTRODUCTION

structure often prevent IS initiatives from reaching a

mature and self-sustainable stage (Lombardi &
Laybourn, 2012) . The same observation is made by
Chertow and Ehrenfeld ( M Chertow & Ehrenfeld,
2012) when they compare the development of selforganizing EIPs with planned EIPs. The involvement
and willingness of industries is often lacking in the
latter form, being eventually detrimental to the
project. The importance of embeddedness is
recognized ( L Baas, 2008) and cognitive, cultural,
spatial and political shared values are being explored
in the latest works (Paquin & Howard Grenville,
2012) . The scientific community gives now a broader
definition of IS, comprehending meta-physical
interactions by shifting towards a more realismoriented approach, such as given by Lombardi and
Laybourn (Lombardi & Laybourn, 2012) . In parallel,
Chertow observes a 3-step IS development pattern
around the world: sprouting, uncovering and
institutionalizing ( M Chertow, 2007). According to
her work, several potential undocumented cases of IS
exist around the world. Some cases have been
uncovered, to bring public awareness but also to
create a network consciousness and encourage further
development. Schwarz and Steininger (Schwarz &
Steininger, 1997) report that, in the case of
Kalundborg, ten synergies unfolded in the 1961-1989
period, while six additional synergies immediately
appeared in the next five years, after the system has
been uncovered in 1990. At a later stage,
supporting institutions, often public, foster the
development of the network and provide with a
common communication and expertise platform. This
is the so-called institutionalizing stage.

The early analysis of industrial symbiosis (IS) in the

scientific literature makes the analogy between
human-made manufacturing systems that cooperate
on the sharing and exchange of resources to a
mutually beneficial end, and the cyclic organization
patterns found in biological systems. IS is seen as a
series of spontaneous bilateral collaborations between
industries as a response to direct environmental and
regulatory changes. Such collaborations mostly cover
the reuse of water, waste and the sharing of
infrastructures. Economic and environmental gains
are documented in numerous instances around the
world, some of them being enumerated in (M.
Chertow, Ashton, & Espinosa, 2008) . The oldest and
most prominent case of IS is in Kalundborg,
Denmark. Other cases are documented with varying
degrees of achievement and different political and
geographical contexts. A classification of IS systems
emerges from self-organizing networks to centrallyplanned eco-industrial parks (EIP).
Pursuing a positivistic approach, authors first
qualitatively described the environmental benefits of
IS and then applied quantitative tools such as Mass
Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment. Later on,
the focus was on the roots of IS, looking at economic
and physical driving forces: scarcity of materials,
physical proximity, environmental regulation, etc. In
order to replicate and institutionalize IS, some authors
recommended considering social and organizational
driving forces, beside physical ones. Indeed, the lack
of social cohesion and an inadequate organizational

In the light of these recent developments, we are very

much in favor of including meta-physical dynamics
when explaining the development of an IS system.
Yet, we also believe that IS practitioners need
pragmatic models to work with, if one is to start or
further develop IS. In that regard, our model attempts
to capture and present in a tangible manner causeeffect relationships of physical, organizational and
social nature identified in successful cases of IS. It
also suggests ways to assess their presence and
enhance them if lacking. They are represented in a
series of easily recognizable mechanisms. In the
perspective of the work of Chertow, we hope that
identifying missing mechanisms and enhancing
existing ones will help IS practitioners to bring
industrial areas from sprouting to an uncovering
stage. After presenting the model, we discuss the next
steps the IS practitioner can undertake, especially in
regards to missing social mechanisms.

organizational development required by a selfsustainable IS system. Finally, social mechanisms

lead to cohesion and trust between the stakeholders.

3. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

The model depicted in Fig. 1 is built upon the IS cases
and comprises the three following dimensions: social,
organizational and physical. At the circumference of
each sphere is listed a number of mechanisms that
stem from causes and lead to effects favorable to the
establishment of IS. Inside each sphere are illustrated
the groups of stakeholders and the dominant
interactions between them.
The model promotes an equal importance between the
different spheres of the mechanisms. It reflect the
conclusions of the latest works on IS that strong social
cohesion and favorable organizational settings are
needed, besides a right environment. The greyed
one-way arrow indicates the belief that the realization
of social mechanisms may lead to the realization of
organization-related mechanisms, which in turn may
open the way to the realization of physical
mechanisms. The physical realization of the synergy
reinforces the presence of the needed social
mechanisms, closing the loop of the model, by way of
reinforced trust, learning and acquisition of experience
or realized gains. It engages in further development,
either within the system, or replicated elsewhere.

2. METHOD
A model based on abductive-reasoning lists IS
facilitating mechanisms found in the physical, social
and organizational realms of a selection of successful
and developed cases of IS: Kalundborg, situated in
Denmark, along with the IS cases of Kwinana
(Australia), Styria (Austria), Guayama (Puerto Rico),
Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and a case from the
former Soviet Union, Nikopol (Ukraine).

Most IS cases gained momentum following

environmental issues: pollution of the nearby fjord by
the release of technical water in Kalundborg, presence
of halogenated solvents in wells in Guayama or a need
to minimize impacts on marine ecosystems in
Kwinana. Solutions were expected by the local
environmental authorities. Material scarcity can also
trigger IS, when it directly threatens business
perspectives. An exception stands out, in the former
Soviet Union, where IS is seen as a means to increase
production volumes via increased resource efficiency.

In Kalundborg, interviews have been conducted with

Jrgen Christensen (the former Vice-president of the
insulin producer Novo Nordisk), Peder Andreas
Mathiesen (the manager of Environmental Operations
of the enzymes producer Novozymes), Jane Hansen
(coordinator at the Industrial Symbiosis Institute),
and Valdemar Christensen (former Production
manager at the Asns power station and later on
Chairman of the Kalundborg Municipality Technical
Committee), majors actors of the system.
In the secondary cases, facilitating mechanisms are
identified through literature. Secondary cases are
chosen for their similarity to the Kalundborg case,
while being different in other aspects. A major
exception being the IS case in Nikopol, Ukraine,
documented by Sathre and Grdzelishvili (Sathre &
Grdzelishvili, 2006), where the State ownership
allows to draw contrasts with the other cases.

The non-realization of organizational and social

mechanisms does not prevent the development of IS
as such. Again, the case of Nikopol, in a then soviet
Ukraine, serves as an example. IS was driven by
legitimate incentives, but a poor knowledge of the
local conditions, the exclusion of the local managers
in the decision-making process, the disregard of
market signals for by-products and a lacking social
cohesion led to sub-optimal decisions and a shortlived development (Sathre and Grdzelishvili 2006).
Hence, awareness, leading to trust and willingness is
seen as an important driver, when initiating IS.

A physical mechanism earns its place in the model

when its realization leads to the development of IS at
an engineering level. Mechanisms present at the interand intra-firm organizational levels facilitate the

Fig. 1 Illustration of the model, the stakeholders and the facilitating mechanisms to IS.

4. NEXT STEPS TO INITIATING OR

UNCOVERING INDUSRIAL SYMBIOSIS

initiating synergy projects. Willingness and trust may

themselves be initiated through awareness. Waste
receptors and energy intensive activities are identified
as being enablers. Having the necessary capital,
technological and knowledge capacity, they are more
likely to introduce IS in an area and drive its
development. We therefore recommend to create first
awareness about IS among these potential actors.

The model suggests that when taking IS to a further

development stage, efforts should concentrate in
creating awareness among enablers. Enablers are
actors who have the capital, technological and
knowledge capacity to overcome social resistance and
introduce new techniques in an organization.
According to Edquist and Edqvist (Edquist and
Edqvist 1979) , once these enablers are convinced of
the utility of the technique, they become actual social
carriers of techniques. While third-party actors, such
as IE consultants or coordinating institutes, can be
seen as potential social carriers of techniques, they
will usually lack the capital and technological capacity
to implement IS. That is why enablers are usually
identified as companies. They are in several cases
traditional waste receptors, such as steelworks,
cement producers, power stations and capital and
energy intensive manufacturing entities. Their
engagement and business power usually drive other
smaller actors to participate in IS-related projects.

5.

REFERENCES
Baas, LW, & Huisingh, D. (2008). The synergistic role of
embeddedness and capabilities in industrial symbiosis:
illustration based upon 12 years of experiences in the
Rotterdam Harbour and Industry Industrial Ecology.
Chertow, M. (2007). Uncovering industrial symbiosis.
Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Chertow, M, & Ehrenfeld, J. (2012). Organizing Self
Organizing Systems. Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Edquist, C., & Edqvist, O. (1979). Social carriers of
techniques for development. Journal of Peace Research,
16(4), 313331.
Lombardi, DR, & Laybourn, P. (2012). Redefining
industrial symbiosis. Journal of Industrial Ecology.
Paquin, RL, & Howard Grenville, J. (2012). The
evolution of facilitated industrial symbiosis. Journal of
industrial Ecology.
Sathre, R, & Grdzelishvili, I. (2006). Industrial symbiosis
in the former Soviet Union. Progress in Industrial
Ecology.
Schwarz, E. J., & Steininger, K. W. (1997). Implementing
natures lesson: the industrial recycling network
enhancing regional development. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 5(1)
Yu, C, Davis, C, & Dijkema, G. (2014). Understanding the
evolution of industrial symbiosis research. Journal of
Industrial Ecology.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on abductive-reasoning, the model presented in

this article lists fifteen mechanisms that have led to
effects favorable to the development of IS among
recognized and complex cases of IS. Among them, the
realization of social mechanisms such as intimacy,
willingness, transfer of information act as the binding
cement of IS and ensure its long term. They are
perceived as being of the utmost importance when