Industrial SymbiosisSymbiosis means co-existence between diverse organisms in which each may benefit from the other. In this context, the term is applied about the industrial co-operation taking place in Kalundborg between a num-ber of companies and Kalundborg Municipality, all of which exploit each others residual or by-products mutually.

The Symbiosis co-operation has developed spontaneously over a num-ber of decades and today comprises some 20 projects. The exchange of residual products between the companies is laid out in the diagram.

The Symbiosis are still in development with new projects and initiatives between the member companies and the society. New member is go-ing to be signed in in 2009 - meaning new processes and new potential symbiosis projects. The Symbiosis Institute are also supporting other industrial districts in Denmark and internationally in their effort to initi-ate symbiosis activities.

The overall goal of the Industrial Symbiosis in Kalundborg is to improve the environmental standard through efficiency, further development and information exchange of utilisation of bi-products in industry. Trough these actions will enterprises minimise the utilisation of energy, water and natural raw materials.

NetworkingThe Industrial Symbiosis of Kalundborg is built as a network co-opera-tion between the seven companies and the Municipality of Kalundborg technical departments.

The philosophy behind the Symbiosis is that the seven companies: DONG Energy Asnæs Power Station, the plasterboard factory Gyproc A/S, the pharmaceutical plant Novo Nordisk A/S, the enzyme producer Novozymes A/S, the oil refinery Statoil A/S, RGS 90 A/S as well as the waste company Kara/Noveren I/S and Kalundborg Municipality - exploit each other’s residual or by-products on a commercial basis.

One company’s by-product becomes an important resource to one or several of the other companies. The outcome is reduced consumption of resources and a significant reduction in environmental strain.

The collaborating partners also benefit financially from the co-operation because the individual agreement within the Symbiosis is based on com-

mercial principles.

http://www.symbiosis.dk/industrial-symbiosis.aspx

Kalundborg industripark

1800s - present Many industries particularly those located in cities were well known for utilizing “wastes” of other indus-tries as raw materials in their own production.

Industrial Symbiosis Timeline

1947The term ‘industrial symbiosis’ was first used in the economic geography literature by Renner to describe ‘organic relationships’ between dissimilar industries, including the ‘use of waste products from one as input to another’

1959 Major facilities (Statoil refinery, Asnaes powerplant, Novo Pharmaceutical plant) located in Kalundborg, Denmark starting up.

1970s Industrial symbiosis activities begin in Kalundborg. (Gyproc sited to use flue gas from Statoil, Asnaes joins Statoil in piping water from Lake Tisso, Novo begins shipping sludge to farmers).

1989 The inter-firm linkages in Kalundborg were ‘uncovered’ through a high school science project, and the term ‘industrial sym-biosis’ was coined to describe the system.

1950s Large process industries including oil, nickel and alumina refining, cement and chemical manufacturing, and energy co-generation plants located in the Kwinana Industrial Area in Western Australia.

1991The first industry association was formed in the Kwinana Area in Western Australia to collectively monitor regional emissions. Its formation led to increased cooperation on a number of issues of common concern.

1989Frosh and Gallopoulos published the article “Strategies for Manufacturing” that is regarded as the beginning of the field of Industrial Ecology.

1990sThe US President’s Council for Sustainable Development promoted the concept and development of “Eco-Industrial Parks” modeled after Kalundborg’s successful inter-firm synergies. In spite of these efforts few EIPs ever came into existence, however, there are many examples of byproduct exchanges and utility and service sharing throughout the US.

1996 Kalundborg Centre for Industrial Symbiosis was formed to help facilitate inter-firm interaction and provide education about the system.

2004First International Industrial Symbiosis Research Symposium held at Yale bringing together researchers and practitioners from around the world. IS research symposia have subsequently been held in Stock-holm, Sweden; Birmingham, England; and Toronto, Canada.

2002China’s State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) promotes the concept of the circular economy and develops a program to highlight and assist model eco-industrial parks across the country. The Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) is one example of an existing industrial region that has well developed industrial sym-biosis linkages among facilities. TEDA was formed in 1984, and provides a utility sharing infrastructure including electricity, gas, steam, water and wastewater treatment, for all regional facilities including reuses of rubber, ash, metals, and organic materials.

2002-The Kwinana Industries Synergies Project was established to identify and foster greater resource-based synergies among facili-ties; the region currently boasts 32 byproduct exchanges and 15 utility synergies.

2001International Society for Industrial Ecology was formed. It promotes “the use of industrial ecology in research, education, policy, community development, and industrial practices” around the world.

- 2000s Symbiosis activities continue through the present, with new links formed between existing entities, new facilities located to utilize by-products, and links that were no longer economically feasible were discontinued.

2005UK’s National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) was launched as the first national scale IS initiative in the world to promote inter-firm synergies in regions across the UK.

developement of symbiosis-relations in kalundborg

kalundborg 1961

kalundborg 1972

kalundborg 1982

kalundborg 1992

kalundborg 2002

kalundborg 2007

National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) is a free innovative business opportunity programme delivering triple bottom line, environmental, economic and social benefits across the UK. As a holistic program, NISP impacts across the entire resource hierarchy, delivering industrial CO2 reductions by adoption of industrial symbiotic approaches to business. NISP has rapidly established itself as a leading agency for resource efficiency across all forms (i.e. energy, water, virgin minerals and waste materials).

The industrial symbiosis (IS) approach, a component of the much wider field of Industrial Ecology, facilitates the identification of sustainable business opportunities by working across traditional industry and sector boundaries.

NISP is the only IS initiative in the world on a national scale[citation needed] and is delivered across the entire UK through a network of 12 regionally based offices in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In addition to this, NISP has been launched in China, Mexico and Brazil, where similar results are expected.

With power production and resource consumption being the single largest contributor to global climate change NISP’s approach to industrial inno-vation has attracted international attention. The UK approach has been praised by the United States and NISP recently assisted the setting up of an IS programme in the State of Illinois. NISP is cited as an exemplar pro-gramme by the European Commission for potential replication in Europe and beyond.

As well as reducing over 1.30 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in its 18 months since its was launched in April 2005, NISP also made a signifi-cant impact on the UK economy; engaging industry across the UK the programme generated more than £65 million in additional industry sales, saving businesses up to £145 million and being instrumental in securing private investment in reprocessing and recycling facilities to the tune of £32.1 million. NISP also diverted more than 1.6 million tonnes of waste from landfill, saved over 1.8 million tonnes of virgin materials and reduced industrial water use by over 387,000 tonnes. [1] NISP brings together companies and organisations of all sectors and sizes, generating cost reductions and new sales, as well as creating significant environmental benefits such as reduced greenhouse gases. This encourages economic activity which generates further social benefits with the creation of new businesses and jobs, and stimulates process improvements by industry through innovation and new technologies, the use of sustainable fuels and

fuel substitution, and greater production and logistic efficiency. Such in-novation will, in turn, also create opportunities for UK businesses to pen-etrate global environmental technology markets.

By being business led and commercially focused, NISP is helping its mem-bers drive through long-term business cultural change that support them in reducing their carbon footprint.

The programme is part funded through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Business Resource Efficiency and Waste (BREW) programme, which uses money derived from increases in Landfill Tax to encourage, support and help businesses improve their resource efficiency.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Industrial_Symbiosis_Programme

illustration of nettworks that can grow from cooperations and fora for knowledge exchange Inorganics workshop march 2006

logical developementIt is in the process of exchanging byproduckts the system and buisnesses improves the environmental factors and economic performance.

The exchange of wastes, by-products, and energy among closely situ-ated firms in Kalundborg has become the impetus to and main tem-plate for the movement to plan ecoindustrial parks. In recent years, however, similar by-product exchange patterns have been observed in other regions of Europe and North America. Cities may have, histori-cally, played an important role in facilitating the creation of recycling linkages between different industries. If Kalundborg and other newly documented cases of localized interfirm recycling linkages are contemporary manifestations of much older processes, then what are the policy implications for current attempts to plan eco-industrial parks?

It is important to look at the economic incentives that have always led to the formation of cities and interfirm recycling linkages at both the local and interregional levels. A critique of current interpretations and policy prescriptions based on the Kalundborg case is argued that regu-latory reform would prove more effective than planning to replicate the Danish experience.

Is current attempts to foster the development of eco-industrial parks and eco-industrial networks too narrow in their geographical scope, that public planning is unlikely to prove more efficient than private initiatives, and is the most important lesson to be learned from Kalundborg the value of a flexible regulatory framework?

from the article; Eco-Industrial Parks and the Rediscovery of Inter-Firm Recycling Linkages, Pierre Desrochers

The ultimate goal of industrial

ecologists is that products

and byproducts should be;

recovered

recycled

but most important; it starts and grows because of intelligent cooperation between local industries