Industrial symbiosis and urban areas: A systematic literature review and future research directions

This paper proposes a systematic literature review concerning the implementation of industrial symbiosis (IS) within urban areas, a concept that has been defined by the literature as "urban symbiosis" and "urban-industrial symbiosis", indifferently. 26 papers published between 2009 and 2018 are analyzed. This review is aimed at highlighting: (1) the specific research goals addressed; (2) the IS synergies currently implemented within urban areas; and (3) barriers and enablers to the implementation of IS within urban areas. Suggestions for future research are also proposed

The industrial symbiosis approach: A classification of business models

Industrial symbiosis is a collaborative approach concerning physical exchange of materials, energy, and services among different firms: accordingly, wastes produced by a given firm are exploited as inputs by other firms. This approach is able to generate remarkable environmental benefits, since it allows to reduce the amount of wastes disposed of in the landfill and the amount of primary inputs used by the industrial sector. It has been proved that the economic logic is the basis of symbiotic exchanges. Through industrial symbiosis, firms are interested to achieve competitive advantage coming from lower production costs and revenue increase. Therefore, the first requirement for the establishment of a symbiotic relationship is its economic sustainability for all the firms involved. In this paper, from the analysis of actual cases of industrial symbiosis, we develop a classification of business models oriented to the symbiotic approach. The classification is based on the different ways in which industrial symbiosis is able to generate economic benefits for the firm that implements it. Six different business models oriented to industrial symbiosis have been identified. The proposed classification could be useful at the company level, in order to promote the implementation of the symbiotic approach, providing a guide about how to integrate it within its current business models

New performance indicators for industrial symbiosis: an ecosystem approach

This paper proposes new performance indicators for industrial symbiosis networks (ISNs) based on the ecosystem approach. ISNs are framed as ecosystems where the firms correspond to the organisms and perform specific functions, i.e., recovering wastes and saving inputs. Two kinds of indicators are designed: 1) indicators assessing the performance of each waste exchange; 2) indicators assessing how each firm is contributing to these exchanges. The designed indicators can be useful in backing up decision-making tools for ISNs

Sustainable operations of industrial symbiosis: an enterprise input-output model integrated by agent-based simulation

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a key for implementing circular economy. Through IS, wastes produced by one company are used as inputs by other companies. The operations of IS suffers from uncertainty barriers since wastes are not produced upon demand but emerge as secondary outputs. Such an uncertainty, triggered by waste supply-demand quantity mismatch, influences IS business dynamics. Accordingly, companies have difficulty to foresee potential costs and benefits of implementing IS. The paper adopts an enterprise input-output model providing a cost–benefit analysis of IS integrated to an agent-based model to simulate how companies share the total economic benefits stemming from IS. The proposed model allows to explore the space of cooperation, defined as the operationally favourable conditions to operate IS in an economically win-win manner. This approach, as a decision-support tool, allows the user to understand whether the IS relationship is created and how should the cost-sharing policy be. The proposed model is applied to a numerical example. Findings show that cost-sharing strategies are dramatically affected by waste supply-demand mismatch and by the relationship between saved and additional costs to run IS. Apart from methodological and theoretical contributions, the paper proposes managerial and practical implications for business strategy development in IS

The supply chain implications of industrial symbiosis

This paper proposes an enterprise input-output model to assess the impacts created by industrial symbiosis (IS) on traditional supply chains for production inputs, triggered by resource use change. The model is capable of measuring a variety of sustainability indicators such as resource and waste savings, total energy use reduction, employment creation, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the model can be used to analyze IS exchanges from a dynamic perspective, since it is able to take into account dynamic scenarios in wastes production and inputs requirement. A numerical example is presented to show how the model works. This example shows how the impacts of IS strongly depend on the combined effects of upstream supply chains topology, waste treatment processes, and waste-input substitution rate

Business models for industrial symbiosis: A guide for firms

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a collaborative approach concerning physical exchange of materials, energy, and services among different firms: accordingly, wastes produced by a given firm are exploited as inputs by other firms. This approach is able to generate economic and environmental benefits at the same time, the former for the involved firms and the latter for the collectivity as a whole. For these reasons, the implementation of IS is largely recommended. However, despite its huge potentialities, the IS approach seems to be actually underdeveloped and not fully exploited. Firms without any prior experience of IS exchanges suffer from lack of awareness about how to integrate the IS practice into their current business models and how to gain economic benefits from IS. Since the willingness to obtain economic benefits is the main driver pushing firms to implement the IS practice, this issue constitutes an important barrier to the development of new IS relationships. In this paper, we contribute to this issue by identifying the different business models that each firm can adopt to implement the IS approach. In particular, we identify several business models for both firms producing waste and firms requiring waste. For each model, we highlight how firms can create and get economic value from IS. Moreover, from the interaction among firms, each of them implementing its own business model, several business scenarios at inter-firm level can arise. These scenarios are also presented: for each of them, strengths and weaknesses are identified and a short case study is discussed. The identified models can be useful at the company level since they provide indications about how to integrate the IS approach within their current business model

Efficacy of landfill tax and subsidy policies for the emergence of industrial symbiosis networks: An agent-based simulation study

Despite the theoretical value of industrial symbiosis (IS), this approach appears to be underdeveloped in terms of practical applications. Different attempts to stimulate IS in practice are noticed, one of them consisting in the application of adequate policy measures. This paper explores the efficacy of two specific policies (landfill tax and economic subsidy for IS exchanges) in supporting the emergence of self-organized industrial symbiosis networks (ISNs). We frame the ISNs as complex adaptive systems and we design an agent-based model to simulate their emergence. We use a real case study and, by means of the simulation model, we assess how the two policy measures are able to enhance the formation of spontaneous IS relationships, thereby forcing the emergence of the ISN. Results show that both policy measures have a positive effect in all scenarios considered, but the extent is strictly dependent on the environmental conditions in which IS relationships occur. The economic implications for the government are finally discussed

Industrial Symbiosis for a Sustainable City: Technical, Economical and Organizational Issues

In this paper, we propose the adoption of industrial symbiosis approach within cities as a tool to improve their environmental sustainability. In particular, organic waste can be used to produce electric energy required by cities. In this way, a resource closed loop is generated, able to reduce the amount of waste disposed of in landfill and the energy purchased from outside the city. We develop a conceptual model that identifies symbiotic flows and processes that generate and receive them. We model these processes using the input-output approach. An efficiency measure of the symbiotic approach within urban areas has been proposed. Finally, we employ three case examples in order to show how the model works. As a result, we provide some useful managerial suggestions for policy makers about the implementation of industrial symbiosis within cities

Learning fair play in industrial symbiotic relationships

In this paper, we provide practical decision support to managers in firms involved in Industrial Symbiotic Relations (ISRs) in terms of strategy development and test the hypothesis that in the long-term, playing a fair strategy for sharing obtainable ISR-related benefits is dominant. We employ multi-agent-based simulations and model industrial decision-makers as interacting agents that observe their history of cooperation decisions in ISRs. The agents are able to: learn from their past, deviate from relations in which their partner plays unfair, and change their strategy to reach higher long-term benefits. Results show that in a long-run, industrial decision makers learn to play fair in ISRs. In addition to managerial support for developing long-lasting ISRs, our work introduces the concept of learning as a notion that links the micromotives in ISRs to their macrobehavior

La cooperazione per una produzione sostenibile: la simbiosi industriale

Il paper evidenzia come la strategia di simbiosi industriale, operata attraverso la cooperazione tra imprese diverse, possa rappresentare un'opportunitá di produzione sostenibile