Industrial Symbiosis for the Circular Economy : Operational Experiences, Best Practices and Obstacles to a Collaborative Business Approach

The book is designed to help public and private decision-makers and academics deepen their knowledge and understanding of the contexts, obstacles and challenges of a variety of business types involved in Industrial Symbiosis and Circular Economy practices. Industrial Symbiosis is reported in the Action Plan on the Circular Economy developed by the European Commission in 2015 (COM / 2015/0614 final) and in its revision of 14 March 2017, but relatively little is known of how these practices start, develop or fail, and mutate in a rapidly changing context. Including selected contributions presented at the 24th ISDRS 2018 Conference, “Actions for a Sustainable World: from theory to practice” in the two theme tracks “5c. Circular economy, zero waste & innovation” and “5g. Industrial symbiosis, networking and cooperation as part of industrial ecology”, this book offers a transdisciplinary perspective on real experiences of industrial symbiosis, performed both by industries and the scientific community, best practices, success and unsuccessful cases (implemented or under implementation), with the final aim to promote the adoption of Industrial Symbiosis as an operational and systematic tool for the Circular Economy. In particular, a focus on the environmental, social, and economic impact of Circular Economy and Industrial Symbiosis practices, and how those impacts may be context and/or scale dependent is given.