88
Since 1989, there has been signifi cant uptake of industrial symbiosis around the
world as shown by the increasing number of journal articles and also events on the
ground. Industrial symbiosis has become more geographically and institutionally
diverse, as more organizations in more countries learn about the ideas and diffuse
regionally specifi c versions. This presents additional opportunities to understand
the phenomenon, but also makes the search to embrace a coherent framework more
immediate.
Keywords Eco-industrial park • Industrial ecosystem • By-product reuse • Circular
economy • Industrial ecology
1 Introduction
This chapter examines the period 1989–2014 during which many people associated
with the industrial ecology community have participated in building the knowledge
base of industrial symbiosis. At the heart of industrial symbiosis is cooperative
resource sharing of water, energy, and material by-products and wastes across organizations for both environmental and economic benefi t. Taking stock of industrial
ecology includes looking back at the earliest days and threads of industrial symbiosis, honoring the catalytic role that the industrial symbiosis in Kalundborg , Denmark,
has played, and compiling some of the lessons learned about how to describe this
phenomenon and its many manifestations as experience and understanding evolve.
Industrial symbiosis is designated as a subfi eld of industrial ecology where both
theory (conceptual knowledge largely from academia) and practice (on-the-ground
experience of public, not-for-profi t, and private organizations working to implement
industrial symbiosis) are highly valued. The chapter includes a bibliometric analysis of the scholarly work, a survey of practitioners and projects, and commentary
from the authors and many other colleagues who contributed ideas for the chapter.
2 Part I: Why People Sometimes Equate Industrial
Symbiosis with Industrial Ecology—Frosch
and Gallopoulos, Kalundborg , and Beyond
While there are numerous antecedents to industrial ecology as Erkman ( 1997 ) and
others have well demonstrated, many agree that modern industrial ecology was
greatly inspired by, or even began with, the seminal 1989 article in Scientifi c
American , “Strategies for Manufacturing .” Written by two members of the research
and development staff at General Motors, this article laid out the conceptual groundwork for industrial ecology with the idea of following material fl ows through “industrial ecosystems” wherein “the consumption of energy and material is optimized,
M. Chertow and J. Park
Since 1989, there has been signifi cant uptake of industrial symbiosis around the
world as shown by the increasing number of journal articles and also events on the
ground. Industrial symbiosis has become more geographically and institutionally
diverse, as more organizations in more countries learn about the ideas and diffuse
regionally specifi c versions. This presents additional opportunities to understand
the phenomenon, but also makes the search to embrace a coherent framework more
immediate.
Keywords Eco-industrial park • Industrial ecosystem • By-product reuse • Circular
economy • Industrial ecology
1 Introduction
This chapter examines the period 1989–2014 during which many people associated
with the industrial ecology community have participated in building the knowledge
base of industrial symbiosis. At the heart of industrial symbiosis is cooperative
resource sharing of water, energy, and material by-products and wastes across organizations for both environmental and economic benefi t. Taking stock of industrial
ecology includes looking back at the earliest days and threads of industrial symbiosis, honoring the catalytic role that the industrial symbiosis in Kalundborg , Denmark,
has played, and compiling some of the lessons learned about how to describe this
phenomenon and its many manifestations as experience and understanding evolve.
Industrial symbiosis is designated as a subfi eld of industrial ecology where both
theory (conceptual knowledge largely from academia) and practice (on-the-ground
experience of public, not-for-profi t, and private organizations working to implement
industrial symbiosis) are highly valued. The chapter includes a bibliometric analysis of the scholarly work, a survey of practitioners and projects, and commentary
from the authors and many other colleagues who contributed ideas for the chapter.
2 Part I: Why People Sometimes Equate Industrial
Symbiosis with Industrial Ecology—Frosch
and Gallopoulos, Kalundborg , and Beyond
While there are numerous antecedents to industrial ecology as Erkman ( 1997 ) and
others have well demonstrated, many agree that modern industrial ecology was
greatly inspired by, or even began with, the seminal 1989 article in Scientifi c
American , “Strategies for Manufacturing .” Written by two members of the research
and development staff at General Motors, this article laid out the conceptual groundwork for industrial ecology with the idea of following material fl ows through “industrial ecosystems” wherein “the consumption of energy and material is optimized,
M. Chertow and J. Park