Industrial Ecology and Symbiosis in Australia: A Study

This presentation delves into the concept of industrial ecology, emphasizing its role in supporting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on five key goals: poverty reduction, quality education, clean water and sanitation, climate action, and industry innovation. The presentation then examines the practical application of industrial ecology and symbiosis within Australia, highlighting specific initiatives in regions like Kwinana and Gladstone. It identifies the symbiotic partnerships, their functions, and the benefits derived, such as resource reuse and governmental financial support. Furthermore, it discusses the factors that have facilitated the implementation of industrial ecology, including governmental support, and addresses the challenges and barriers faced, such as information sharing and trust-building among companies. The presentation concludes by underscoring the importance of industrial ecology and symbiosis in fostering sustainable business practices and environmental stewardship, promoting a circular economy, and driving innovation in waste management and resource utilization. The work is supported by academic research, including the works of Cerceau et al. (2014), Deutz & Ioppolo (2015), Saavedra et al. (2018), and Boons et al. (2017).

The concept of industrial ecology is a recent concept which
researches the flow of energy and materials through various systems of the
industry.
It is a multi-disciplinary concept which is based on systems and
helps people to understand the complicated and integrated human as well
as natural systems (Cerceau et al., 2014).

 It supports the concept of sustainability through various tools like
environment, technology, ecology, and sociology.

Industrial ecology provides support to the idea of sustainability
attainment by shifting the linear industrial actions or systems, where capital is
invested and the resources used move on to form waste, to a system of a
closed loop where the wastes can be made into inputs for future processes.
There are a total of 17 sustainable development goals which has
been made by the United Nations, and they talk about the improvement of
health, global warming, poverty, water sanitation, environment, hunger,
gender equality, and many more (Cerceau et al., 2014).

While there are 17 Sustainability Development Goals, the
important 5 can be considered as:
 No poverty or the goal to end world poverty and all the forms it has in
the international context along with discrimination (Deutz & Ioppolo,
2015).
 The quality of education needs to be improved everywhere, and it has
to be made sure that education level is equitable as well as inclusive so that
it can help promote learning opportunities for life.

 Providing clean water as well as proper sanitation is required everywhere
for the sustainability of water.

 · Steps to combat changes in the climate and regulation of the emissions
of toxic materials and using renewable energy is required as well (Deutz &
Ioppolo, 2015).
 · There is a need for innovation and industry so that new infrastructures
are built for the future.

The continent Australia is located at a great distance from other
nations and continents which makes it difficult for them to initiate a
perspective of industrial ecology (Cerceau et al., 2014). But it has been
able to adopt innovative ideas and have applied industrial ecology as well
as symbiosis in different areas like:
 · Studies in the regions of heavy industries

 · Different mixed industrial parks
 · Initiatives of waste exchange

 They have used reuse option for different flows of waste in places like
Kwinana and Gladstone, However, the reporting was different (Cerceau et
al., 2014).
They have been applied for production techniques which are cleaner,
circular economy, for the propagation of eco-efficiency as well as for
practices to manage wastes.

 The government of Australia has supported these initiatives by approaches
like Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing and Green Stamp
Program.
They have also prioritized the initiation of networks of industrial ecology
as a part of the Business Recycling Program.

The symbiosis is a concept which supports eco-innovation and
change in the culture for a long-term for shared as well as mutual profit in
the business and technological areas (Saavedra, Iritani, Pavan & Ometto,
2018). These partnerships can be of different types,
 Mutualism where both partners have benefits
 Commensalism is where one partner gains while the other is neither
gaining nor losing
 Parasitic is where one partner gains and the other only suffers.

 Australian companies believe in the sustainability of ecology and are
concerned with mutual symbiosis for the overall development of the
nation.

There are various features which can be achieved if a nation
generates and propagates the industrial ecology as well as industrial
symbiosis.
They help a nation to grow and be sustainable as well as bring a
change in the international standards of business and environment too
(Boons, Chertow, Park, Spekkink, & Shi, 2017). Their benefits are:
 · Water is reused because of resource scarcity

 · Financial support from the government makes companies reuse waste
and utilize resources
 · Making new products from existing relationships
 · A high level of awareness about the environment and using
technology for helping the cause.

The innovation and initiation of ecological sustainability in the
industries were facilitated from aspects like management of wastes and using
it as possible resources.
Heavy areas of industries were creating high volumes of wastes and
they were diverse in nature too (Boons et al., 2017).
Therefore, control over them was required and the government of
Australia helped the industries to start the process so that the environment of
the country can be saved.

The projects in Australia faced certain challenges and barriers too.
These were as follows:
· First of all the motivation is a huge barrier which needs significant
notice (Saavedra et al., 2018).
· The sharing of information and the attainment of trust is a lengthy
process between companies and pose as a challenge to form symbiotic
partners who can work together for the greater good and individual benefits.

Boons, F., Chertow, M., Park, J., Spekkink, W., & Shi, H. (2017). Industrial
symbiosis dynamics and the problem of equivalence: Proposal for
a comparative framework. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 21(4),
938- 952.
Cerceau, J., Mat, N., Junqua, G., Lin, L., Laforest, V., & Gonzalez, C.
(2014). Implementing industrial ecology in port cities: international
overview of case studies and cross-case analysis. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 74, 1-16.

Deutz, P., & Ioppolo, G. (2015). From theory to practice: Enhancing the
potential policy impact of industrial ecology. Sustainability, 7(2),
2259-2273.
Saavedra, Y. M., Iritani, D. R., Pavan, A. L., & Ometto, A. R. (2018).
Theoretical contribution of industrial ecology to circular
economy. Journal of Cleaner Production, 170, 1514-1522.