92
3.1 Industrial Symbiosis: Old, New, or Hidden
One of the distinctive crosscutting themes of industrial ecology is the way it attends
to “hidden” fl ows such as (1) the often uncounted overburden left behind from mining extraction that becomes part of mass fl ow analysis; (2) the “missing” lead or
mercury or other elements that dissipate into air, water, and soil; and, (3) in industrial symbiosis, resource exchanges that may have been implemented long ago, but
are not known or recognized other than among the participating economic actors as
part of a formal or informal localized supply chain. In each of these classic industrial ecology instances, something formerly hidden or unknown becomes attended
to and counted. By identifying these hidden fl ows and giving them more careful
attention, both economic and environmental implications are clarifi ed. Environmental
consequences can be negative, as with escaping lead, but can often be positive, as
with repurposed sulfur, wastewater, or cogenerated steam characteristic of industrial symbiosis. The nature of economic activities that fl y under the radar of visibility and consciousness is a phenomenon within industrial symbiosis fi rst discussed
by Schwarz and Steininger ( 1997 ) and helps to explain the surprise that often
accompanies forays into industrial ecosystems.
In the early 2000s, geographer Pierre Desrochers identifi ed industrial symbiosis
transactions as rearrangements of practices that had come before (Desrochers 2000 ).
Indeed, as long as there have been people, products, and wastes—from animal hides
to fl ower pollen to metal scraps—such items have been exchanged if the recipient
fi nds value in the material being received, whether or not there is a special name for
it. Desrochers ( 2001 , 2004 ) cited numerous industrial examples of resource sharing
over hundreds of years including the role that cities have played in agglomerating
industries in common locations and, in the process, enabling the creation of reuse
and recycling among players in those industries. Desrochers has investigated reuse
of by-products, for example, in Victorian England, and identifi ed some very interesting historical accounts such as an 1862 volume titled Waste Products and
Undeveloped Substances , whose authors attributed the ingenuity they saw around
them to opportunities to earn additional revenue from what appeared to have no
value at all.
Such refl ections help to stimulate thinking about industrial symbiosis and claims
about it by its observers. When a phenomenon has a strong economic basis—such
as the revenue earning aspect of industrial symbiosis—then there is motivation and
impetus to pursue it. To a large extent, much of industrial symbiosis has been concealed in the broader realm of economic exchanges. What we recognize and indeed
can quantify from today’s version of industrial symbiosis is that alongside the
economic benefi ts, environmental ones are generated as well. These benefi ts may be
hidden, but can be demonstrated to the broader community in the form of reduced
emissions and waste and jobs created through reuse and recycling. Once these
industrial symbiosis benefi ts become recognized more broadly and further steps are
taken to continue them, then the activities of the business cluster where they occur
can be classifi ed as a distinct environmental phenomenon beyond what happens in
other economic agglomeration networks (Chertow and Ehrenfeld 2012 ).
M. Chertow and J. Park
3.1 Industrial Symbiosis: Old, New, or Hidden
One of the distinctive crosscutting themes of industrial ecology is the way it attends
to “hidden” fl ows such as (1) the often uncounted overburden left behind from mining extraction that becomes part of mass fl ow analysis; (2) the “missing” lead or
mercury or other elements that dissipate into air, water, and soil; and, (3) in industrial symbiosis, resource exchanges that may have been implemented long ago, but
are not known or recognized other than among the participating economic actors as
part of a formal or informal localized supply chain. In each of these classic industrial ecology instances, something formerly hidden or unknown becomes attended
to and counted. By identifying these hidden fl ows and giving them more careful
attention, both economic and environmental implications are clarifi ed. Environmental
consequences can be negative, as with escaping lead, but can often be positive, as
with repurposed sulfur, wastewater, or cogenerated steam characteristic of industrial symbiosis. The nature of economic activities that fl y under the radar of visibility and consciousness is a phenomenon within industrial symbiosis fi rst discussed
by Schwarz and Steininger ( 1997 ) and helps to explain the surprise that often
accompanies forays into industrial ecosystems.
In the early 2000s, geographer Pierre Desrochers identifi ed industrial symbiosis
transactions as rearrangements of practices that had come before (Desrochers 2000 ).
Indeed, as long as there have been people, products, and wastes—from animal hides
to fl ower pollen to metal scraps—such items have been exchanged if the recipient
fi nds value in the material being received, whether or not there is a special name for
it. Desrochers ( 2001 , 2004 ) cited numerous industrial examples of resource sharing
over hundreds of years including the role that cities have played in agglomerating
industries in common locations and, in the process, enabling the creation of reuse
and recycling among players in those industries. Desrochers has investigated reuse
of by-products, for example, in Victorian England, and identifi ed some very interesting historical accounts such as an 1862 volume titled Waste Products and
Undeveloped Substances , whose authors attributed the ingenuity they saw around
them to opportunities to earn additional revenue from what appeared to have no
value at all.
Such refl ections help to stimulate thinking about industrial symbiosis and claims
about it by its observers. When a phenomenon has a strong economic basis—such
as the revenue earning aspect of industrial symbiosis—then there is motivation and
impetus to pursue it. To a large extent, much of industrial symbiosis has been concealed in the broader realm of economic exchanges. What we recognize and indeed
can quantify from today’s version of industrial symbiosis is that alongside the
economic benefi ts, environmental ones are generated as well. These benefi ts may be
hidden, but can be demonstrated to the broader community in the form of reduced
emissions and waste and jobs created through reuse and recycling. Once these
industrial symbiosis benefi ts become recognized more broadly and further steps are
taken to continue them, then the activities of the business cluster where they occur
can be classifi ed as a distinct environmental phenomenon beyond what happens in
other economic agglomeration networks (Chertow and Ehrenfeld 2012 ).
M. Chertow and J. Park