The role of industrial symbiosis in sustainable resource management

Abstract

The concepts of sustainable resource management and environmental sustainability have become key topics in corporate management recently. Companies tend to build ambitious resource-optimization goals in their strategies, pursuing efficiency and acting towards the preservation of the natural environment at the same time. In this study, we took on a broader perspective, drawing on the literature that linking resource efficiency not only with the internal processes of companies but rather with the resource-based connections between hem. There are several well-structured and useful methodologies for developing industrial symbioses between companies, however, the philosophies behind them and the scope of usability differ significantly.
Based on our review of existing literature we show the factors that support the formation of relationships and point to the barriers also (of which there are many). Based on our summarizing efforts, a special group of barriers is identified, highlighting factors that can be traced back mainly to information sharing and management issues. After one relating case study is presented from a secondary source in the electronic waste industry, we formulated our suggestions for the case of the Hungarian economy. We raise attention to the need for an efficient regional capacity of facilitator organizations supporting and promoting industrial symbiosis locally, with the possibility of addressing most of the issues identified.