Designing regional industrial symbiosis networks: The case of Apulia region

Adopting industrial symbiosis (IS) is a key strategy for pursuing sustainable development and developing circular economy. In this regard, a powerful approach is promoting the development of regional business networks of IS relationships (ISNs), such as the well-known Kalundborg ISN in Denmark. Nevertheless, a formalized method supporting the development of effective ISNs at the regional level is still lacking in the literature and practice. This paper develops a methodology to support the design of regional ISNs, consisting of two steps: (1) building a waste-input relationship table, which can be used as a dictionary of the potential IS synergies implementable among couples of companies; and (2) identifying and selecting the potential symbiotic synergies that can be implemented among the companies belonging to a given regional area. The proposed methodology is tested for the case of Apulia region (Southern Italy), where more than 300 feasible IS synergies are identified. The method is useful both for companies interested to exploit IS benefits, and also for regional policymakers prone to develop IS in practice.