Industrial Symbiosis for Circular Economy: A Possible Scenario in Norway

Interaction between industry and environment is crucial for industrial business performance as environmental impacts are constantly increasing pressure on industrial businesses. The creation of eco-industrial parks aims at transforming industrial systems into industrial ecosystems by including some measures like infrastructure and material/energy flows sharing. The introduction of industrial symbiosis scenario in which one firm’s waste becomes another firm’s feedstock represents a further development of eco-industrial parks design. This principle may be extended to cities and, doing so, an integration of socio-economic and ecological systems will be promoted. At the industrial park level, the practice of the circular transformation through waste exchange enhances circular economy. The application of the same principles to cities promotes the circular urban metabolism, where the conversion of natural resources into society occurs with zero-waste production.