Industrial symbiosis (IS) can contribute to achieving a win-win situation between industry and environment for local and regional circular economies. Many authors have recognized that a variety of barriers can hinder the implementation of industrial symbiosis (IS). It is imperative to understand and prioritize the barriers which will provide guidance for the realization of IS projects and assist practitioners and stakeholders with more effective implementation. This, in turn, will contribute to development of circular economies.
Industrial symbiosis (IS) has been well-recognized as a key subfield of industrial ecology (IE) [1][2]. A widely cited definition of IS is presented by Chertow [1]:“engaging traditionally separate entities in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products. The keys to IS are collaboration and the synergistic possibilities offered by geographic proximity” (p. 314). IS research is flourishing and has covered a broad range of topics and cases [3]. IS helps to increase the industrial system’s circularity [4] and is considered to be a circular economic business model [5]. It can often create economic, environmental, and social benefits [4][6][7], which assists in promoting local and regional sustainable development [8]. In recent years, IS has been considered to be a core strategy [6][9][10] and a key practical approach to promote the circular economy (CE) [4][11]. Fraccascia and Yazan [11] have argued that the catalytic role of IS in achieving a circular economy should be encouraged. In China, IS has been incorporated into national policies that were specifically formulated for CE, and has been identified as a key element for promoting national CE development [12], especially at the mesolevel [13].
In general, the current research on identifying barriers related to IS can be mainly divided into three groups, i.e., specific barriers, generic barriers, and evaluation of barriers using mathematical methods. They are summarized in Table 1.
Some researchers identified some specific barriers related to IS from different perspectives, such as institutional barriers [24][25][26], organizational perspective [3], environmental regulation barriers [27], and sectoral boundary barrier [28]. They are summarized in Table 1.
The generic barriers related to IS were also put forward by some researchers. Some of these studies chose some IS or EIP cases to identify barriers, such as the Kwinana and Gladstone of Australia [15][17], the industrial estates of Canada [29], the Ulsan EIP project of Korea [30], and the EIPs of China [31]. These generic barriers are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Identification of barriers related to IS.
Categorization of IS Barriers | Descriptions | References |
---|---|---|
Identification of specific barriers |
|
[24][25][26] |
|
[3] | |
|
[32] | |
|
[33] | |
|
[34] | |
|
[35] | |
|
[27] | |
|
[36] | |
|
[28] | |
|
[37] | |
|
[38] | |
|
[39] | |
Identification of generic barriers |
|
[40] |
|
[17] | |
|
[41] | |
|
[29] | |
|
[42] | |
|
[30] | |
|
[43] | |
|
[31] | |
|
[15] | |
|
[44] | |
|
[45] | |
|
[14] | |
Evaluation of barriers using mathematical methods |
|
[15] |
|
[31] | |
|
[14] | |
|
[2 |
2.3 Evaluation of Barriers Using Mathematical Methods
A few researchers have introduced mathematical methods to evaluate the barriers of IS. Golev et al. [15] proposed a qualitative method, the IS maturity grid, to analyze IS barriers. It was concluded that the method is helpful for determining the most critical nontechnical barriers which influence the development of a regional IS and identifying mitigation measures to remove the most critical identified barriers. Zhu et al. [31] introduced a factor analysis and cluster analysis to evaluate a number of barriers for EIP development of China. Bacudio et al. [14] adopted the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to identify barriers and concluded that it assists in detecting which barriers can be categorized as cause or effect factors. Based on the work of Bacudio et al. [14], Promentilla et al. [23] proposed a methodological framework to analyze the barriers for an EIP in the Philippines. The related contents are also listed in Table 1.
In the current IE field, the literature on barriers related to IS, can be arranged into seven generic categories. Many barriers have been identified. These are referred to as specific barriers. It has been attempted to combine these into generic categories.
Concerns about the technical feasibility of waste exchange can be a barrier for IS [43][45]. Van Beers et al. [17] noted that IS concerns the capture, recovery, and reuse of byproducts. They reported that many potential IS opportunities have been prevented from being realized because of technology challenges, such as availability of (reliable) recovery technologies [17]. Liu et al. [58] mentioned some technical barriers associated with waste water regeneration and solid waste reutilization. Gibbs [42] perceived the possibility that local companies have no potential to ‘fit together’ as an example of technical barriers. In addition, lack of evaluation technique related to IS has received attention by some researchers. Costa et al. [59] emphasized lack of evaluation of the potential recycling function of manufacturing technologies already in place as a challenging technological barrier. Sakr et al. [40] considered that “the lack of local technical know-how capable of identifying and evaluating IS opportunities” (p. 1166) is an important technical issue.
Cognition or perception is identified as one of the barriers for the development of IS by some researchers [45][64]. Mangan and Olivetti [45] pointed out that waste is often perceived as something with negative connotations by companies. This makes companies unwilling to focus on waste and participate in IS relationships [45]. Ehrenfeld and Gertler [64] argued that it is difficult for companies to integrate wastes into their strategic processes because wastes have a long history of being ignored. Notarnicola et al. [22] found that a main constraint for IS implementation is that the strategic approach of companies is highly oriented to the primary product with a focus on core business. In this circumstance, the waste is regarded as something to be disposed of quickly [22]. Some authors found that one of the barriers in enabling IS is that companies lack understanding of concepts, principles, potential benefits, and cooperation related to IS activities [29][34][37][39][40].
Some researchers argued that there may be motivational barriers wherein stakeholders must be willing to cooperate [34][42][44]. In this respect, the barriers may be a lack of trust [42][43][44]. Gibbs [42] also noted that a lack of trust would inhibit the establishment of a symbiotic relationship. Compared with Dutch industry, Heeres et al. [43] found that when participating in EIP projects, US companies have more distrust towards the local government that acts as the EIP project promoter. Lehtoranta et al. [49] suggested that creation of trust is more challenging for larger regions when attempting to implement IS.
Chertow [63] argued that concern about the use of industrial byproducts, especially in symbioses involving agriculture, needs to be carefully examined because it is an important environmental and health issue. This means that an IS relationship focusing on utilizing wastes may be hindered if it can cause safety problems for environment and human health. Chertow [63] further pointed out that there is still no widely reported evidence of environmental health problems resulting from byproduct exchanges that has been found. In a case study of IS around the Gulf of Bothnia, Salmi et al. [27] found that while there were no significant technological barriers on utilization of wastes around that region, from an ecological point of view, they argued that the marine transport of hazardous materials across the open sea during winter is certainly risky and recommended that a risk assessment on marine transport should be conducted [27].
Table 2. Classification of IS barriers.
Categories of Barriers | Type of Barrier | References |
---|---|---|
Governmental barriers |
|
[3][47][49][64][65] |
|
- | |
|
[15][17][26][27][29][38][41][43][45][50][51][52][65][66] | |
|
[25] | |
|
[25][28][41] | |
Economic barriers |
|
[3][17][27][41][65] |
|
[3][49][57] | |
|
[42][45][56] | |
Technological barriers |
|
[17][58] |
|
[40][42][59] | |
Organizational barriers |
|
[3][29][40][41][43][50] |
|
[41][50] | |
|
[43][54] | |
Informational barriers |
|
[39][41][42][43][56][63] |
|
[29][40] | |
Cognitive barriers |
|
[22][29][34][37][39][40][45][64] |
Motivational barriers |
|
[42][43][44][49] |
Safety barriers |
|
[63] |
|
[27][63] |
From an extensive literature review, it can be seen that the current research related to IS barriers is mainly qualitative. Evaluation of the IS barriers is still very limited. It is imperative to prioritize the barriers in a comprehensive manner with more case studies. There has one study which proposed a Group AHP-TOPSIS Model to semi-quantitatively evaluate the barriers which impede the implementation of IS [67]. The model is designed as a two-level hierarchical structure, which assists in identifying the degrees of importance of generic barriers and the specific barriers corresponding to their generic barriers. An operating IS of China is taken as a case to test the proposed model. It shows that at the generic barriers level, the top four degrees of importance of generic barriers are technological barriers, economic barriers, safety barriers, and informational barriers. Technological barriers are the most important generic barrier for the IS and should be given the most attention to be managed or eliminated. The top five specific barriers are information platform barriers, human safety and health barriers, technology of extending industrial chain barriers, product added value barriers, and cost barriers. Information platform barriers are the most important specific barrier and should be emphasized. This demonstrates that the model assists in prioritizing the different barriers in a comprehensive manner. In the future, more research on prioritizing the IS barriers with case studies from different countries needs to be developed. This will help to provide empirical evidence IS barriers studies and should be helpful for managers, decision-makers, and policy planners to understand the IS barriers, focus on several critical barriers, and set comprehensive efforts for improving the operation of an IS, which could facilitate the transition to a circular economy.
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su14116815