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Industrial Symbiosis

Towards More Resource-Efficient Industrial Systems

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  • First Online:
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures

Synonyms

Eco-industrial network; Industrial synergy; Networked eco-industrial system

Definition

Industrial symbiosis describes synergistic business relationships between traditionally separated industrial entities, resulting from networked endeavors to collaborative manage material or energetic resources, infrastructures, capacities, or know-how. Nonindustrial organizations can be included as well. By establishing mutually beneficial interlinkages between participants, such a network achieves more efficient use of materials, energy, or other resources, and thus accomplishes both higher business profit and reduced adverse impacts on the environment. Interfirm valorization of by-products and wastes is one common feature of industrial symbiosis.

Introduction

In natural ecosystems, a symbiosis captures a close interaction of living species. As an analogy, industrial symbiosis refers to complexly interlinked companies or other organizations in an industrialized environment. The widely cited...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Sigrid Kusch-Brandt

  2. Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Management, University of Applied Sciences Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    Sigrid Kusch-Brandt

Authors
  1. Sigrid Kusch-Brandt
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Correspondence to Sigrid Kusch-Brandt .

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Kusch-Brandt, S. (2021). Industrial Symbiosis. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51812-7_213-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51812-7_213-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-51812-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-51812-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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