F O RU M

Renewable Eco-industrial DevelopmentA New Frontier for Industrial Ecology

Peter Wells and Clovis Zapata

Keywords

biomaterialsbiorefineryindustrial symbiosisKalundborgrenewable resourcesugarcane ethanol

Summary

This article reviews the scope of the discipline of industrial ecology and in the context ofan urgent requirement for substantial and rapid change in the face of global sustainabilitychallenges argues that the discipline could embrace a more proactive interventionist stancein the form of renewable eco-industrial development Existing eco-industrialism is presentedas flawed with many cases premised on the use of nonrenewable resources Renewableeco-industrial development while still nascent has the potential both to resolve somesustainability challenges and to offer a new area of endeavor for industrial ecology albeitone with its own unique difficulties such as conflict with food production Renewable eco-industrial development is further argued to bring industrial ecology into a more sociallycritical stance as it concerns the future allocation of scarce resources

Beyond Methodology

Since the landmark publication by Frosch and Gallopoulos(1989) industrial ecology has matured into a robust empiricalscience able to provide increasingly accurate and meaningfulanswers to difficult questions regarding our choice of economicstructure social practice and physical artifact The significanceof methodology to industrial ecology has been underlined bythe designation of a separate section in the Journal of IndustrialEcology for the discussion of methodological issues (Lifset andGordon 2010)

Simultaneously there has been continued discourse on thescope and contribution of industrial ecology beyond quantifi-cation Indeed the very presence of the Forum section in theJournal of Industrial Ecology is testimony to the need for thisemergent discipline to explore the boundaries of the subjectand define the membership of the community of practice

While not seeking to devalue the methodological innova-tions in industrial ecology the essentially interventionist andengaged nature of scholarship in this discipline invites reflec-

Address correspondence to Peter Wells Cardiff Business School Aberconway Building Colum Drive Cardiff University Cardiff CF10 3EU Wales Emailwellspecardiffacuk

ccopy 2012 by Yale UniversityDOI 101111j1530-9290201200487x

Volume 00 Number 00

tion on the social and political as well as the environmentalIn addition the methodological focus tends to be somewhathistorical in that it is concerned with measurement of an ex-isting system or situation This post hoc approach is inevitableas the data are not available for such measurement until thesystem exists but it also tends to mean that initial assumptionsare less likely to be questioned In a sense this poses a dilemmafor industrial ecology from a scientific perspective it is clearlypreferable to have a robust methodology grounded in reliableand comprehensive data for reaching sound conclusions How-ever this approach presupposes that the phenomenon to bemeasured already actually exists For some industrial ecology isa powerful metaphor whose most potent contribution is to allowus to reconceptualize social phenomena in new ways (Ehrenfeld2004) It is important to observe that the discipline has emergedat a specific historical juncture notably at a time when popula-tion growth and burgeoning materialism on a global scale havethreatened to overwhelm available resources and the abilityof the planet to absorb the consequences of this consumptionIn short industrial ecology emerged in response to a pressing

wwwwileyonlinelibrarycomjournaljie Journal of Industrial Ecology 1

F O RU M

need that has since become more imperative In this regardEhrenfeld (2005) asks an important question is sustainabilityconsistent with capitalism as we know it Asking such a ques-tion takes industrial ecology into the realm of critical thinkingbecause rather than seeking to understand and optimize exist-ing systems we may start to question the underlying validity ofthose systems Of course it is important to know for examplewhether aluminum or steel is the ldquobestrdquo choice of material fromwhich to build a vehicle body (Kim et al 2011) but that shouldnot deter us from asking whether renewable materials are betterthan nonrenewable materials for vehicle bodies or more pro-foundly whether automobility itself is the problem or indeedthe corporate structures and economic relationships that createsuch automobility

Renewable Eco-industrialism

All of this is preamble to the subject of renewable eco-industrial development narrowly defined as creating added-value material products from renewable resources for whichsufficient data may not yet exist (Wells and Zapata 2011) Thatis from key renewable material inputs within a network ofclosely related enterprises and social organizations raw mate-rials semifinished materials components and complete prod-ucts of increasingly added value can be derived Renewableeco-industrial development first requires an analysis of whetherrenewable or nonrenewable resources are the most appropri-ate particularly given the creation of many contemporary re-newable resources with pesticides irrigation water fertilizersand diverse equipment that brings attendant environmentalburdens Intuitively it is to be expected that renewable eco-industrial development would need to be premised on specificlocal characteristics (such as climate topography soil type)though again the most appropriate solution is found in empir-ical analysis and access to suitable low-cost biomass feedstock(Ashworth 2011)

Within industrial geography there has been a range of relatedconcepts such as industrial districts agglomeration economiesagribusiness clusters enterprise zones multifunction agricul-ture farm diversification and more Eco-industrialism is thephysical manifestation of industrial ecology whereby severaldistinct processes and products (and usually distinct organiza-tions) are interconnected by material flows that collectivelyresult in reduced waste and higher resource efficiency oftenwithin a spatially concentrated area (see Ashton [2009] for aregional-scale example) Eco-industrialism seeks to ensure thatthe waste from one process can become the input for anotherand that energy and material use are optimized Circular eco-nomic systems are the latest manifestation of eco-industrialism(Mathews and Tan 2011) Closely related terms include eco-industrial parks industrial symbiosis and industrial ecosystems(Deutz and Gibbs 2004 Gibbs et al 2005) This concept takesits inspiration from the Kalundborg Denmark community inwhich this sort of interdependence developed over a period oftime (Lowe and Evans 1995) While the Kalundborg exampleevolved mostly naturally (Ehrenfeld and Gertler 1997) plan-

ners and policy makers have since sought to induce similardevelopments elsewhere As Ehrenfeld and Gertler make clearthe replication of the evolution of Kalundborg is by no meansstraightforward but this has not prevented policy makers andacademics alike from pursuing the goal (Gibbs et al 2005)

Within industrial ecology there have emerged the signif-icant concepts of the eco-industrial complex industrial sym-biosis and industrial metabolism The case of Kalundborg hasbecome totemic in this discourse as an exemplar of what suchsymbiosis can achieve and interestingly the lessons learnedfrom Kalundborg are the basis for overt policy interventionsto create similar spatially concentrated symbiotic relationshipsin other locations Crucially however the Kalundborg caserests on some distinctly unsustainable material consumptionpracticesmdashnotably the oil-fired power station at the heart ofthe complex It is noteworthy that in 2011 the Asnaes powerstation pledged to switch to 50 renewable biomass by 2020(Danish Architectural Centre 2012) There tends to be an en-vironmental limitation to eco-industrialism which is premisedon spatially contiguous and functionally interconnected pro-cesses for optimum resource efficiency but which has thus farnot embraced the problem of the use of nonrenewable finiteresources Importantly then eco-industrialism does not appearto require that the products of this complex are themselves sus-tainable or that the raw materials used are renewable even ifthe approach does actively highlight the reduction of virgin rawmaterial as an important benefit The emphasis is on building upa network of mutually dependent entities that collectively andcumulatively are more efficient than when working in isolationMoreover given that the extent and pace of required changeto current unsustainable practices are growing daily it is sig-nificant that many years elapsed as Kalundborg developed wasresearched and was then emulated in other locations It maybe that we no longer enjoy the luxury of such a protracted pro-cess to embed more sustainable practices in industrial systemsMore profoundly given prevailing global economic instabil-ity and the continuing uneven distribution of wealth a morecritical industrial ecology would give some attention to the ben-eficiaries of change and those who are excluded Sustainabilityis concerned with interlocation equity but also equity withinsociety and across generations For example renewable eco-industrialism may be part of a broader project to insulate locali-ties from the uncontrollable movements of the global economyand its effects on local social stability and quality of life

In brief then the purpose of renewable eco-industrial de-velopment is to create a symbiotic complex like that at Kalund-borg but one that is premised on renewable resources and socialequity Such renewable complexes are emergent today but byno means fully formed Biorefineries could be considered aspotentially on this development trajectory (Ashworth 2011Lopolito and Morone 2011 Realff and Abbas 2003) as couldthe nascent sugarcane ethanol bioplastic industry in Brazil (Foran assessment of the technology see Iles and Martin [2010])Such developments are necessarily premised on advantages andcharacteristics of the local ecosystem but also on the symbioticnetwork relationships of industrial ecology (Chadha 2011)

2 Journal of Industrial Ecology

F O RU M

The technical feasibility of localized production has beenproven by the manufacture of polylactide acid (PLA) by Nature-Works which has the largest biorefinery in the United States inBlair Nebraska USA (Thielen 2010) The refinery makes useof corn for the production of bioplastic though it is a complexand multistage process The Blair biorefinery gets 60 of itscorn feedstock from the local area (producers are located lessthan 40 kilometers [km] from the plant in Nebraska and Iowa)1

Several companies in an emergent network are active on theBlair biorefinery campus A similar example is the Braziliancompany Brasken which launched a biopolyethylene in 2007that is produced with the use of sugarcane-derived ethanol Thepolyethylene produced at Brasken has the same chemical andphysical characteristics of the traditional petrol fuel-derivedmaterial and has been widely used for automobiles cosmeticspackaging and toys The firm markets the biopolyethylene asan environmentally friendly product with a large export po-tential In 2010 the company claimed to be the world leader asit opened a 320 million US dollar (US$) sugarcane ethanolprocessing plant which has the capacity to produce 200000tonnes of biopolyethylene per year

The Implications for Industrial Ecology

Evidently the pursuit of renewable eco-industrial develop-ment would raise important questions both for the disciplineof industrial ecology and its practice (Mohanty et al 2002)In practice the use of agricultural outputs for nonfood use andthe displacement of large-scale consumption of scarce materialresources currently used for artifacts raises huge issues regardingsocial priorities and equity Is the diversion of agricultural landto products for material consumption justifiable Is large-scalemonoculture an appropriate basis given the many environmen-tal burdens such practices generate Is something like sugarcanebest used to make sugar ethanol as fuel for cars or a plastic feed-stock that could ultimately become a consumer product Whatare the implications of local specialization based on distinctclimate and resource endowments What is the optimum re-source choice between renewable materials and nonrenewablebut recyclable ldquotechnical nutrientsrdquo (McDonough and Braun-gart 2002) What is the relationship between spatially clusteredmicro supply chains and the sort of global long-link value chainsthat typify contemporary practice

Industrial ecology is uniquely placed to arrive at some an-swers to these types of questions precisely because of the depthof methodological competence developed over the last 20 years(eg Cherubini and Stroslashmman 2011 Melamu and Blottnitz2011) The discipline could also explore new biotechnologyhorizons through the use of bacteria or algae as inputs intoproduction systems for energy food or other purposes

There are three main elements to the new challenges as weunderstand them First instead of replicating examples fromother parts of the world the role of industrial ecology will bemore concerned with the innovative design of systems that fitinto the existing biomass availability in the most efficient man-

ner possible this will clearly vary widely according to locationand circumstance Second in this more proactive stance in-dustrial ecology will engage in the forward planning and designof such systems even when perfect knowledge does not existThird the transition to renewable eco-industrialism is part ofthe global sociotechnical transition that is probably needed toachieve some form of sustainability This will include radicalshifts in the patterns of production and consumption demate-rialization and even in concepts like ldquovaluerdquo In this emergentworld there will be fierce debates about the ldquorightrdquo choice ofaction and the ldquobestrdquo use of resources from a social perspectiveWe think that industrial ecology will have much to contributebut that the neutrality of the science will likely be combinedwith a more politicized advocacy-driven role

Renewable eco-industrial development also opens impor-tant questions within the discipline that are potentially lessreadily addressed Given the embryonic state of renewable eco-industrial development around the world how far should in-dustrial ecologists be involved in the proactive creation of suchan organization For many in the discipline the strength of in-dustrial ecology lies precisely in its scientific methodology androbust data premised on the detailed analysis of existing casestudies However the need for significant and rapid change isbecoming more evident as time passes This is therefore not anargument for abandoning methodology but for more inventionin the deployment of industrial ecologyrsquos scientific tools at atime when we do not have the luxury to await the spontaneousemergence of renewable eco-industrial development

Such activities are overtly politicized Moreover this essen-tially normative and progressive stance requires a rather dif-ferent use of the methodological base if industrial ecology isto inform emergent policy For example how can we identifynascent renewable eco-industrial networks so that they can sub-sequently be nurtured How does industrial ecology capture thenonenvironmental benefits of increased value-added produc-tion locally of inclusive growth or indeed the potential valueof being insulated from chaotic world economic events More-over while the eco-industrial parks example essentially involvesidentifying best practices and seeking to replicate them (Cher-tow 2007) renewable eco-industrial development is necessarilydiverse because it is embedded in locality and embryonic inform Industrial ecologists will need to occupy more of a pol-icy design role to create examples from first principles ratherthan existing practices Taking a more critical stance is almostinevitable because any attempt to substitute existing materialconsumption practices with those based primarily on renew-able sources is unlikely to be possible without both a significantreduction in total material production and consumption anda switch from producing and consuming certain products infavor of others The focus on local wealth generation and re-circulation also brings industrial ecology firmly into social andpolitical domains The industrial ecology community needs touse its methodological tools to engage more critically with thediscipline and more broadly with the profound and urgent ques-tions faced by contemporary society around the world

Wells and Zapata Renewable Eco-industrial Development 3

F O RU M

Acknowledgments

This article derives from research funded by the UKEconomics and Social Research Council Centre for Busi-ness Relationships Accountability Sustainability and Soci-ety (BRASS) Cardiff University We are grateful to the threeanonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve thequality of this article

Note

1 One kilometer (km SI) asymp 0621 miles (mi)

References

Ashton W S 2009 The structure function and evolution of a re-gional industrial ecosystem Journal of Industrial Ecology 13(2)228ndash246

Ashworth J H 2011 The emerging integrated biorefinery The newmodel for commercial success amp oil displacement wwwaseanenergyinfoAbstract32010072pdf Golden CO USA National Re-newable Energy Laboratory

Chadha A 2011 Overcoming competence lock-in for the develop-ment of radical eco-innovations The case of biopolymer technol-ogy Industry and Innovation 18(3) 335ndash350

Chertow M 2007 ldquoUncoveringrdquo industrial symbiosis Journal of Indus-trial Ecology 11(1) 11ndash30

Cherubini F and A H Stroslashmman 2011 Life cycle assessment ofbioenergy systems State of the art and future challenges Biore-source Technology 102(2) 437ndash451

Danish Architectural Centre 2012 Kalundborg moves into the futureSustainable cities httpsustainablecitiesdkencity-projectscaseskalundborg-industrial-symbiosis-waste-makes-resource Ac-cessed 26 February 2012

Deutz P and D Gibbs 2004 Eco-industrial development and eco-nomic development Industrial ecology or place promotion Busi-ness Strategy and the Environment 13(5) 347ndash362

Ehrenfeld J and N Gertler 1997 Industrial ecology in practice Theevolution of interdependence at Kalundborg Journal of IndustrialEcology 1(1) 67ndash79

Ehrenfeld J 2004 Industrial ecology A new field or only a metaphorJournal of Cleaner Production 12(8ndash10) 825ndash831

Ehrenfeld J 2005 The roots of sustainability Sloan Management Review46(2) 23ndash25

Frosch R and N Gallopoulos 1989 Strategies for manufacturingScientific American 261(3) 144ndash152

Gibbs D P Deutz and A Procter 2005 Industrial ecology and eco-industrial development A new paradigm for local and regionaldevelopment Regional Studies 39(2) 171ndash183

Iles A and A N Martin 2010 Expanding bioplastics productionSustainable business innovation in the chemical industry Paperpresented at ERSCP-EMSU conference Knowledge Collabora-tion amp Learning for Sustainable Development 25ndash29 OctoberDelft The Netherlands

Kim H-J G A Keoleian and S J Skerlos 2011 Economicassessment of greenhouse gas emissions reduction by vehiclelightweighting using aluminum and high-strength steel Journalof Industrial Ecology 15(1) 64ndash80

Lifset R and E Gordon 2010 Setting out and sorting out boundariesin the Journal of Industrial Ecology Journal of Industrial Ecology14(6) 863ndash865

Lopolito A and P Morone 2011 Innovation niches and socio-technical transition A case study of bio-refinery production Fu-tures 43(1) 27ndash38

Lowe E A and L K Evans 1995 Industrial ecology and industrialecosystems Journal of Cleaner Production 3(12) 47ndash53

Mathews J A and H Tan 2011 Progress toward a circular economyin China The drivers (and inhibitors) of eco-industrial initiativeJournal of Industrial Ecology 15(3) 435ndash457

McDonough M and M Braungart 2002 Cradle to cradle Remak-ing the way we make things New York NY USA North PointPress

Melamu R and H von Blottnitz 2011 2nd generation biofuels a surebet A life cycle assessment of how things could go wrong Journalof Cleaner Production 19(2ndash3) 138ndash144

Mohanty A K M Misra and L T Drzal 2002 Sustainable bio-composites from renewable resources Opportunities and chal-lenges in the green materials world Journal of Polymers and theEnvironment 10(1ndash2) 19ndash26

Realff M J and C Abbas 2003 Industrial symbiosis Refining thebiorefinery Journal of Industrial Ecology 7(3ndash4) 5ndash9

Thielen M 2010 Biorefinery Blair Nebraska Bioplastics Magazine 3(5)22ndash24

Wells P and C Zapata 2011 Eco-industrialism The potential forinclusive growth with bio-plastic production in Brazil using sugar-cane ethanol Paper presented at the 3rd International Workshopon Advances in Cleaner Production Sao Paulo Brazil 18ndash20May 2011

About the Authors

Peter Wells is a Reader at the Centre for Automo-tive Industry Research Cardiff Business School and at theCentre for Business Relationships Accountability Sustain-ability and Society at Cardiff University Cardiff UKClovis Zapata is a senior research associate at the InternationalPolicy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) of the UnitedNations Development Programme Brasilia Brazil

4 Journal of Industrial Ecology

F O RU M

need that has since become more imperative In this regardEhrenfeld (2005) asks an important question is sustainabilityconsistent with capitalism as we know it Asking such a ques-tion takes industrial ecology into the realm of critical thinkingbecause rather than seeking to understand and optimize exist-ing systems we may start to question the underlying validity ofthose systems Of course it is important to know for examplewhether aluminum or steel is the ldquobestrdquo choice of material fromwhich to build a vehicle body (Kim et al 2011) but that shouldnot deter us from asking whether renewable materials are betterthan nonrenewable materials for vehicle bodies or more pro-foundly whether automobility itself is the problem or indeedthe corporate structures and economic relationships that createsuch automobility

Renewable Eco-industrialism

All of this is preamble to the subject of renewable eco-industrial development narrowly defined as creating added-value material products from renewable resources for whichsufficient data may not yet exist (Wells and Zapata 2011) Thatis from key renewable material inputs within a network ofclosely related enterprises and social organizations raw mate-rials semifinished materials components and complete prod-ucts of increasingly added value can be derived Renewableeco-industrial development first requires an analysis of whetherrenewable or nonrenewable resources are the most appropri-ate particularly given the creation of many contemporary re-newable resources with pesticides irrigation water fertilizersand diverse equipment that brings attendant environmentalburdens Intuitively it is to be expected that renewable eco-industrial development would need to be premised on specificlocal characteristics (such as climate topography soil type)though again the most appropriate solution is found in empir-ical analysis and access to suitable low-cost biomass feedstock(Ashworth 2011)

Within industrial geography there has been a range of relatedconcepts such as industrial districts agglomeration economiesagribusiness clusters enterprise zones multifunction agricul-ture farm diversification and more Eco-industrialism is thephysical manifestation of industrial ecology whereby severaldistinct processes and products (and usually distinct organiza-tions) are interconnected by material flows that collectivelyresult in reduced waste and higher resource efficiency oftenwithin a spatially concentrated area (see Ashton [2009] for aregional-scale example) Eco-industrialism seeks to ensure thatthe waste from one process can become the input for anotherand that energy and material use are optimized Circular eco-nomic systems are the latest manifestation of eco-industrialism(Mathews and Tan 2011) Closely related terms include eco-industrial parks industrial symbiosis and industrial ecosystems(Deutz and Gibbs 2004 Gibbs et al 2005) This concept takesits inspiration from the Kalundborg Denmark community inwhich this sort of interdependence developed over a period oftime (Lowe and Evans 1995) While the Kalundborg exampleevolved mostly naturally (Ehrenfeld and Gertler 1997) plan-

ners and policy makers have since sought to induce similardevelopments elsewhere As Ehrenfeld and Gertler make clearthe replication of the evolution of Kalundborg is by no meansstraightforward but this has not prevented policy makers andacademics alike from pursuing the goal (Gibbs et al 2005)

Within industrial ecology there have emerged the signif-icant concepts of the eco-industrial complex industrial sym-biosis and industrial metabolism The case of Kalundborg hasbecome totemic in this discourse as an exemplar of what suchsymbiosis can achieve and interestingly the lessons learnedfrom Kalundborg are the basis for overt policy interventionsto create similar spatially concentrated symbiotic relationshipsin other locations Crucially however the Kalundborg caserests on some distinctly unsustainable material consumptionpracticesmdashnotably the oil-fired power station at the heart ofthe complex It is noteworthy that in 2011 the Asnaes powerstation pledged to switch to 50 renewable biomass by 2020(Danish Architectural Centre 2012) There tends to be an en-vironmental limitation to eco-industrialism which is premisedon spatially contiguous and functionally interconnected pro-cesses for optimum resource efficiency but which has thus farnot embraced the problem of the use of nonrenewable finiteresources Importantly then eco-industrialism does not appearto require that the products of this complex are themselves sus-tainable or that the raw materials used are renewable even ifthe approach does actively highlight the reduction of virgin rawmaterial as an important benefit The emphasis is on building upa network of mutually dependent entities that collectively andcumulatively are more efficient than when working in isolationMoreover given that the extent and pace of required changeto current unsustainable practices are growing daily it is sig-nificant that many years elapsed as Kalundborg developed wasresearched and was then emulated in other locations It maybe that we no longer enjoy the luxury of such a protracted pro-cess to embed more sustainable practices in industrial systemsMore profoundly given prevailing global economic instabil-ity and the continuing uneven distribution of wealth a morecritical industrial ecology would give some attention to the ben-eficiaries of change and those who are excluded Sustainabilityis concerned with interlocation equity but also equity withinsociety and across generations For example renewable eco-industrialism may be part of a broader project to insulate locali-ties from the uncontrollable movements of the global economyand its effects on local social stability and quality of life

In brief then the purpose of renewable eco-industrial de-velopment is to create a symbiotic complex like that at Kalund-borg but one that is premised on renewable resources and socialequity Such renewable complexes are emergent today but byno means fully formed Biorefineries could be considered aspotentially on this development trajectory (Ashworth 2011Lopolito and Morone 2011 Realff and Abbas 2003) as couldthe nascent sugarcane ethanol bioplastic industry in Brazil (Foran assessment of the technology see Iles and Martin [2010])Such developments are necessarily premised on advantages andcharacteristics of the local ecosystem but also on the symbioticnetwork relationships of industrial ecology (Chadha 2011)

2 Journal of Industrial Ecology

F O RU M

The technical feasibility of localized production has beenproven by the manufacture of polylactide acid (PLA) by Nature-Works which has the largest biorefinery in the United States inBlair Nebraska USA (Thielen 2010) The refinery makes useof corn for the production of bioplastic though it is a complexand multistage process The Blair biorefinery gets 60 of itscorn feedstock from the local area (producers are located lessthan 40 kilometers [km] from the plant in Nebraska and Iowa)1

Several companies in an emergent network are active on theBlair biorefinery campus A similar example is the Braziliancompany Brasken which launched a biopolyethylene in 2007that is produced with the use of sugarcane-derived ethanol Thepolyethylene produced at Brasken has the same chemical andphysical characteristics of the traditional petrol fuel-derivedmaterial and has been widely used for automobiles cosmeticspackaging and toys The firm markets the biopolyethylene asan environmentally friendly product with a large export po-tential In 2010 the company claimed to be the world leader asit opened a 320 million US dollar (US$) sugarcane ethanolprocessing plant which has the capacity to produce 200000tonnes of biopolyethylene per year

The Implications for Industrial Ecology

Evidently the pursuit of renewable eco-industrial develop-ment would raise important questions both for the disciplineof industrial ecology and its practice (Mohanty et al 2002)In practice the use of agricultural outputs for nonfood use andthe displacement of large-scale consumption of scarce materialresources currently used for artifacts raises huge issues regardingsocial priorities and equity Is the diversion of agricultural landto products for material consumption justifiable Is large-scalemonoculture an appropriate basis given the many environmen-tal burdens such practices generate Is something like sugarcanebest used to make sugar ethanol as fuel for cars or a plastic feed-stock that could ultimately become a consumer product Whatare the implications of local specialization based on distinctclimate and resource endowments What is the optimum re-source choice between renewable materials and nonrenewablebut recyclable ldquotechnical nutrientsrdquo (McDonough and Braun-gart 2002) What is the relationship between spatially clusteredmicro supply chains and the sort of global long-link value chainsthat typify contemporary practice

Industrial ecology is uniquely placed to arrive at some an-swers to these types of questions precisely because of the depthof methodological competence developed over the last 20 years(eg Cherubini and Stroslashmman 2011 Melamu and Blottnitz2011) The discipline could also explore new biotechnologyhorizons through the use of bacteria or algae as inputs intoproduction systems for energy food or other purposes

There are three main elements to the new challenges as weunderstand them First instead of replicating examples fromother parts of the world the role of industrial ecology will bemore concerned with the innovative design of systems that fitinto the existing biomass availability in the most efficient man-

ner possible this will clearly vary widely according to locationand circumstance Second in this more proactive stance in-dustrial ecology will engage in the forward planning and designof such systems even when perfect knowledge does not existThird the transition to renewable eco-industrialism is part ofthe global sociotechnical transition that is probably needed toachieve some form of sustainability This will include radicalshifts in the patterns of production and consumption demate-rialization and even in concepts like ldquovaluerdquo In this emergentworld there will be fierce debates about the ldquorightrdquo choice ofaction and the ldquobestrdquo use of resources from a social perspectiveWe think that industrial ecology will have much to contributebut that the neutrality of the science will likely be combinedwith a more politicized advocacy-driven role

Renewable eco-industrial development also opens impor-tant questions within the discipline that are potentially lessreadily addressed Given the embryonic state of renewable eco-industrial development around the world how far should in-dustrial ecologists be involved in the proactive creation of suchan organization For many in the discipline the strength of in-dustrial ecology lies precisely in its scientific methodology androbust data premised on the detailed analysis of existing casestudies However the need for significant and rapid change isbecoming more evident as time passes This is therefore not anargument for abandoning methodology but for more inventionin the deployment of industrial ecologyrsquos scientific tools at atime when we do not have the luxury to await the spontaneousemergence of renewable eco-industrial development

Such activities are overtly politicized Moreover this essen-tially normative and progressive stance requires a rather dif-ferent use of the methodological base if industrial ecology isto inform emergent policy For example how can we identifynascent renewable eco-industrial networks so that they can sub-sequently be nurtured How does industrial ecology capture thenonenvironmental benefits of increased value-added produc-tion locally of inclusive growth or indeed the potential valueof being insulated from chaotic world economic events More-over while the eco-industrial parks example essentially involvesidentifying best practices and seeking to replicate them (Cher-tow 2007) renewable eco-industrial development is necessarilydiverse because it is embedded in locality and embryonic inform Industrial ecologists will need to occupy more of a pol-icy design role to create examples from first principles ratherthan existing practices Taking a more critical stance is almostinevitable because any attempt to substitute existing materialconsumption practices with those based primarily on renew-able sources is unlikely to be possible without both a significantreduction in total material production and consumption anda switch from producing and consuming certain products infavor of others The focus on local wealth generation and re-circulation also brings industrial ecology firmly into social andpolitical domains The industrial ecology community needs touse its methodological tools to engage more critically with thediscipline and more broadly with the profound and urgent ques-tions faced by contemporary society around the world

Wells and Zapata Renewable Eco-industrial Development 3

F O RU M

Acknowledgments

This article derives from research funded by the UKEconomics and Social Research Council Centre for Busi-ness Relationships Accountability Sustainability and Soci-ety (BRASS) Cardiff University We are grateful to the threeanonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve thequality of this article

Note

1 One kilometer (km SI) asymp 0621 miles (mi)

References

Ashton W S 2009 The structure function and evolution of a re-gional industrial ecosystem Journal of Industrial Ecology 13(2)228ndash246

Ashworth J H 2011 The emerging integrated biorefinery The newmodel for commercial success amp oil displacement wwwaseanenergyinfoAbstract32010072pdf Golden CO USA National Re-newable Energy Laboratory

Chadha A 2011 Overcoming competence lock-in for the develop-ment of radical eco-innovations The case of biopolymer technol-ogy Industry and Innovation 18(3) 335ndash350

Chertow M 2007 ldquoUncoveringrdquo industrial symbiosis Journal of Indus-trial Ecology 11(1) 11ndash30

Cherubini F and A H Stroslashmman 2011 Life cycle assessment ofbioenergy systems State of the art and future challenges Biore-source Technology 102(2) 437ndash451

Danish Architectural Centre 2012 Kalundborg moves into the futureSustainable cities httpsustainablecitiesdkencity-projectscaseskalundborg-industrial-symbiosis-waste-makes-resource Ac-cessed 26 February 2012

Deutz P and D Gibbs 2004 Eco-industrial development and eco-nomic development Industrial ecology or place promotion Busi-ness Strategy and the Environment 13(5) 347ndash362

Ehrenfeld J and N Gertler 1997 Industrial ecology in practice Theevolution of interdependence at Kalundborg Journal of IndustrialEcology 1(1) 67ndash79

Ehrenfeld J 2004 Industrial ecology A new field or only a metaphorJournal of Cleaner Production 12(8ndash10) 825ndash831

Ehrenfeld J 2005 The roots of sustainability Sloan Management Review46(2) 23ndash25

Frosch R and N Gallopoulos 1989 Strategies for manufacturingScientific American 261(3) 144ndash152

Gibbs D P Deutz and A Procter 2005 Industrial ecology and eco-industrial development A new paradigm for local and regionaldevelopment Regional Studies 39(2) 171ndash183

Iles A and A N Martin 2010 Expanding bioplastics productionSustainable business innovation in the chemical industry Paperpresented at ERSCP-EMSU conference Knowledge Collabora-tion amp Learning for Sustainable Development 25ndash29 OctoberDelft The Netherlands

Kim H-J G A Keoleian and S J Skerlos 2011 Economicassessment of greenhouse gas emissions reduction by vehiclelightweighting using aluminum and high-strength steel Journalof Industrial Ecology 15(1) 64ndash80

Lifset R and E Gordon 2010 Setting out and sorting out boundariesin the Journal of Industrial Ecology Journal of Industrial Ecology14(6) 863ndash865

Lopolito A and P Morone 2011 Innovation niches and socio-technical transition A case study of bio-refinery production Fu-tures 43(1) 27ndash38

Lowe E A and L K Evans 1995 Industrial ecology and industrialecosystems Journal of Cleaner Production 3(12) 47ndash53

Mathews J A and H Tan 2011 Progress toward a circular economyin China The drivers (and inhibitors) of eco-industrial initiativeJournal of Industrial Ecology 15(3) 435ndash457

McDonough M and M Braungart 2002 Cradle to cradle Remak-ing the way we make things New York NY USA North PointPress

Melamu R and H von Blottnitz 2011 2nd generation biofuels a surebet A life cycle assessment of how things could go wrong Journalof Cleaner Production 19(2ndash3) 138ndash144

Mohanty A K M Misra and L T Drzal 2002 Sustainable bio-composites from renewable resources Opportunities and chal-lenges in the green materials world Journal of Polymers and theEnvironment 10(1ndash2) 19ndash26

Realff M J and C Abbas 2003 Industrial symbiosis Refining thebiorefinery Journal of Industrial Ecology 7(3ndash4) 5ndash9

Thielen M 2010 Biorefinery Blair Nebraska Bioplastics Magazine 3(5)22ndash24

Wells P and C Zapata 2011 Eco-industrialism The potential forinclusive growth with bio-plastic production in Brazil using sugar-cane ethanol Paper presented at the 3rd International Workshopon Advances in Cleaner Production Sao Paulo Brazil 18ndash20May 2011

About the Authors

Peter Wells is a Reader at the Centre for Automo-tive Industry Research Cardiff Business School and at theCentre for Business Relationships Accountability Sustain-ability and Society at Cardiff University Cardiff UKClovis Zapata is a senior research associate at the InternationalPolicy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) of the UnitedNations Development Programme Brasilia Brazil

4 Journal of Industrial Ecology

F O RU M

The technical feasibility of localized production has beenproven by the manufacture of polylactide acid (PLA) by Nature-Works which has the largest biorefinery in the United States inBlair Nebraska USA (Thielen 2010) The refinery makes useof corn for the production of bioplastic though it is a complexand multistage process The Blair biorefinery gets 60 of itscorn feedstock from the local area (producers are located lessthan 40 kilometers [km] from the plant in Nebraska and Iowa)1

Several companies in an emergent network are active on theBlair biorefinery campus A similar example is the Braziliancompany Brasken which launched a biopolyethylene in 2007that is produced with the use of sugarcane-derived ethanol Thepolyethylene produced at Brasken has the same chemical andphysical characteristics of the traditional petrol fuel-derivedmaterial and has been widely used for automobiles cosmeticspackaging and toys The firm markets the biopolyethylene asan environmentally friendly product with a large export po-tential In 2010 the company claimed to be the world leader asit opened a 320 million US dollar (US$) sugarcane ethanolprocessing plant which has the capacity to produce 200000tonnes of biopolyethylene per year

The Implications for Industrial Ecology

Evidently the pursuit of renewable eco-industrial develop-ment would raise important questions both for the disciplineof industrial ecology and its practice (Mohanty et al 2002)In practice the use of agricultural outputs for nonfood use andthe displacement of large-scale consumption of scarce materialresources currently used for artifacts raises huge issues regardingsocial priorities and equity Is the diversion of agricultural landto products for material consumption justifiable Is large-scalemonoculture an appropriate basis given the many environmen-tal burdens such practices generate Is something like sugarcanebest used to make sugar ethanol as fuel for cars or a plastic feed-stock that could ultimately become a consumer product Whatare the implications of local specialization based on distinctclimate and resource endowments What is the optimum re-source choice between renewable materials and nonrenewablebut recyclable ldquotechnical nutrientsrdquo (McDonough and Braun-gart 2002) What is the relationship between spatially clusteredmicro supply chains and the sort of global long-link value chainsthat typify contemporary practice

Industrial ecology is uniquely placed to arrive at some an-swers to these types of questions precisely because of the depthof methodological competence developed over the last 20 years(eg Cherubini and Stroslashmman 2011 Melamu and Blottnitz2011) The discipline could also explore new biotechnologyhorizons through the use of bacteria or algae as inputs intoproduction systems for energy food or other purposes

There are three main elements to the new challenges as weunderstand them First instead of replicating examples fromother parts of the world the role of industrial ecology will bemore concerned with the innovative design of systems that fitinto the existing biomass availability in the most efficient man-

ner possible this will clearly vary widely according to locationand circumstance Second in this more proactive stance in-dustrial ecology will engage in the forward planning and designof such systems even when perfect knowledge does not existThird the transition to renewable eco-industrialism is part ofthe global sociotechnical transition that is probably needed toachieve some form of sustainability This will include radicalshifts in the patterns of production and consumption demate-rialization and even in concepts like ldquovaluerdquo In this emergentworld there will be fierce debates about the ldquorightrdquo choice ofaction and the ldquobestrdquo use of resources from a social perspectiveWe think that industrial ecology will have much to contributebut that the neutrality of the science will likely be combinedwith a more politicized advocacy-driven role

Renewable eco-industrial development also opens impor-tant questions within the discipline that are potentially lessreadily addressed Given the embryonic state of renewable eco-industrial development around the world how far should in-dustrial ecologists be involved in the proactive creation of suchan organization For many in the discipline the strength of in-dustrial ecology lies precisely in its scientific methodology androbust data premised on the detailed analysis of existing casestudies However the need for significant and rapid change isbecoming more evident as time passes This is therefore not anargument for abandoning methodology but for more inventionin the deployment of industrial ecologyrsquos scientific tools at atime when we do not have the luxury to await the spontaneousemergence of renewable eco-industrial development

Such activities are overtly politicized Moreover this essen-tially normative and progressive stance requires a rather dif-ferent use of the methodological base if industrial ecology isto inform emergent policy For example how can we identifynascent renewable eco-industrial networks so that they can sub-sequently be nurtured How does industrial ecology capture thenonenvironmental benefits of increased value-added produc-tion locally of inclusive growth or indeed the potential valueof being insulated from chaotic world economic events More-over while the eco-industrial parks example essentially involvesidentifying best practices and seeking to replicate them (Cher-tow 2007) renewable eco-industrial development is necessarilydiverse because it is embedded in locality and embryonic inform Industrial ecologists will need to occupy more of a pol-icy design role to create examples from first principles ratherthan existing practices Taking a more critical stance is almostinevitable because any attempt to substitute existing materialconsumption practices with those based primarily on renew-able sources is unlikely to be possible without both a significantreduction in total material production and consumption anda switch from producing and consuming certain products infavor of others The focus on local wealth generation and re-circulation also brings industrial ecology firmly into social andpolitical domains The industrial ecology community needs touse its methodological tools to engage more critically with thediscipline and more broadly with the profound and urgent ques-tions faced by contemporary society around the world

Wells and Zapata Renewable Eco-industrial Development 3

F O RU M

Acknowledgments

This article derives from research funded by the UKEconomics and Social Research Council Centre for Busi-ness Relationships Accountability Sustainability and Soci-ety (BRASS) Cardiff University We are grateful to the threeanonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve thequality of this article

Note

1 One kilometer (km SI) asymp 0621 miles (mi)

References

Ashton W S 2009 The structure function and evolution of a re-gional industrial ecosystem Journal of Industrial Ecology 13(2)228ndash246

Ashworth J H 2011 The emerging integrated biorefinery The newmodel for commercial success amp oil displacement wwwaseanenergyinfoAbstract32010072pdf Golden CO USA National Re-newable Energy Laboratory

Chadha A 2011 Overcoming competence lock-in for the develop-ment of radical eco-innovations The case of biopolymer technol-ogy Industry and Innovation 18(3) 335ndash350

Chertow M 2007 ldquoUncoveringrdquo industrial symbiosis Journal of Indus-trial Ecology 11(1) 11ndash30

Cherubini F and A H Stroslashmman 2011 Life cycle assessment ofbioenergy systems State of the art and future challenges Biore-source Technology 102(2) 437ndash451

Danish Architectural Centre 2012 Kalundborg moves into the futureSustainable cities httpsustainablecitiesdkencity-projectscaseskalundborg-industrial-symbiosis-waste-makes-resource Ac-cessed 26 February 2012

Deutz P and D Gibbs 2004 Eco-industrial development and eco-nomic development Industrial ecology or place promotion Busi-ness Strategy and the Environment 13(5) 347ndash362

Ehrenfeld J and N Gertler 1997 Industrial ecology in practice Theevolution of interdependence at Kalundborg Journal of IndustrialEcology 1(1) 67ndash79

Ehrenfeld J 2004 Industrial ecology A new field or only a metaphorJournal of Cleaner Production 12(8ndash10) 825ndash831

Ehrenfeld J 2005 The roots of sustainability Sloan Management Review46(2) 23ndash25

Frosch R and N Gallopoulos 1989 Strategies for manufacturingScientific American 261(3) 144ndash152

Gibbs D P Deutz and A Procter 2005 Industrial ecology and eco-industrial development A new paradigm for local and regionaldevelopment Regional Studies 39(2) 171ndash183

Iles A and A N Martin 2010 Expanding bioplastics productionSustainable business innovation in the chemical industry Paperpresented at ERSCP-EMSU conference Knowledge Collabora-tion amp Learning for Sustainable Development 25ndash29 OctoberDelft The Netherlands

Kim H-J G A Keoleian and S J Skerlos 2011 Economicassessment of greenhouse gas emissions reduction by vehiclelightweighting using aluminum and high-strength steel Journalof Industrial Ecology 15(1) 64ndash80

Lifset R and E Gordon 2010 Setting out and sorting out boundariesin the Journal of Industrial Ecology Journal of Industrial Ecology14(6) 863ndash865

Lopolito A and P Morone 2011 Innovation niches and socio-technical transition A case study of bio-refinery production Fu-tures 43(1) 27ndash38

Lowe E A and L K Evans 1995 Industrial ecology and industrialecosystems Journal of Cleaner Production 3(12) 47ndash53

Mathews J A and H Tan 2011 Progress toward a circular economyin China The drivers (and inhibitors) of eco-industrial initiativeJournal of Industrial Ecology 15(3) 435ndash457

McDonough M and M Braungart 2002 Cradle to cradle Remak-ing the way we make things New York NY USA North PointPress

Melamu R and H von Blottnitz 2011 2nd generation biofuels a surebet A life cycle assessment of how things could go wrong Journalof Cleaner Production 19(2ndash3) 138ndash144

Mohanty A K M Misra and L T Drzal 2002 Sustainable bio-composites from renewable resources Opportunities and chal-lenges in the green materials world Journal of Polymers and theEnvironment 10(1ndash2) 19ndash26

Realff M J and C Abbas 2003 Industrial symbiosis Refining thebiorefinery Journal of Industrial Ecology 7(3ndash4) 5ndash9

Thielen M 2010 Biorefinery Blair Nebraska Bioplastics Magazine 3(5)22ndash24

Wells P and C Zapata 2011 Eco-industrialism The potential forinclusive growth with bio-plastic production in Brazil using sugar-cane ethanol Paper presented at the 3rd International Workshopon Advances in Cleaner Production Sao Paulo Brazil 18ndash20May 2011

About the Authors

Peter Wells is a Reader at the Centre for Automo-tive Industry Research Cardiff Business School and at theCentre for Business Relationships Accountability Sustain-ability and Society at Cardiff University Cardiff UKClovis Zapata is a senior research associate at the InternationalPolicy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) of the UnitedNations Development Programme Brasilia Brazil

4 Journal of Industrial Ecology

F O RU M

Acknowledgments

This article derives from research funded by the UKEconomics and Social Research Council Centre for Busi-ness Relationships Accountability Sustainability and Soci-ety (BRASS) Cardiff University We are grateful to the threeanonymous reviewers whose comments helped to improve thequality of this article

Note

1 One kilometer (km SI) asymp 0621 miles (mi)

References

Ashton W S 2009 The structure function and evolution of a re-gional industrial ecosystem Journal of Industrial Ecology 13(2)228ndash246

Ashworth J H 2011 The emerging integrated biorefinery The newmodel for commercial success amp oil displacement wwwaseanenergyinfoAbstract32010072pdf Golden CO USA National Re-newable Energy Laboratory

Chadha A 2011 Overcoming competence lock-in for the develop-ment of radical eco-innovations The case of biopolymer technol-ogy Industry and Innovation 18(3) 335ndash350

Chertow M 2007 ldquoUncoveringrdquo industrial symbiosis Journal of Indus-trial Ecology 11(1) 11ndash30

Cherubini F and A H Stroslashmman 2011 Life cycle assessment ofbioenergy systems State of the art and future challenges Biore-source Technology 102(2) 437ndash451

Danish Architectural Centre 2012 Kalundborg moves into the futureSustainable cities httpsustainablecitiesdkencity-projectscaseskalundborg-industrial-symbiosis-waste-makes-resource Ac-cessed 26 February 2012

Deutz P and D Gibbs 2004 Eco-industrial development and eco-nomic development Industrial ecology or place promotion Busi-ness Strategy and the Environment 13(5) 347ndash362

Ehrenfeld J and N Gertler 1997 Industrial ecology in practice Theevolution of interdependence at Kalundborg Journal of IndustrialEcology 1(1) 67ndash79

Ehrenfeld J 2004 Industrial ecology A new field or only a metaphorJournal of Cleaner Production 12(8ndash10) 825ndash831

Ehrenfeld J 2005 The roots of sustainability Sloan Management Review46(2) 23ndash25

Frosch R and N Gallopoulos 1989 Strategies for manufacturingScientific American 261(3) 144ndash152

Gibbs D P Deutz and A Procter 2005 Industrial ecology and eco-industrial development A new paradigm for local and regionaldevelopment Regional Studies 39(2) 171ndash183

Iles A and A N Martin 2010 Expanding bioplastics productionSustainable business innovation in the chemical industry Paperpresented at ERSCP-EMSU conference Knowledge Collabora-tion amp Learning for Sustainable Development 25ndash29 OctoberDelft The Netherlands

Kim H-J G A Keoleian and S J Skerlos 2011 Economicassessment of greenhouse gas emissions reduction by vehiclelightweighting using aluminum and high-strength steel Journalof Industrial Ecology 15(1) 64ndash80

Lifset R and E Gordon 2010 Setting out and sorting out boundariesin the Journal of Industrial Ecology Journal of Industrial Ecology14(6) 863ndash865

Lopolito A and P Morone 2011 Innovation niches and socio-technical transition A case study of bio-refinery production Fu-tures 43(1) 27ndash38

Lowe E A and L K Evans 1995 Industrial ecology and industrialecosystems Journal of Cleaner Production 3(12) 47ndash53

Mathews J A and H Tan 2011 Progress toward a circular economyin China The drivers (and inhibitors) of eco-industrial initiativeJournal of Industrial Ecology 15(3) 435ndash457

McDonough M and M Braungart 2002 Cradle to cradle Remak-ing the way we make things New York NY USA North PointPress

Melamu R and H von Blottnitz 2011 2nd generation biofuels a surebet A life cycle assessment of how things could go wrong Journalof Cleaner Production 19(2ndash3) 138ndash144

Mohanty A K M Misra and L T Drzal 2002 Sustainable bio-composites from renewable resources Opportunities and chal-lenges in the green materials world Journal of Polymers and theEnvironment 10(1ndash2) 19ndash26

Realff M J and C Abbas 2003 Industrial symbiosis Refining thebiorefinery Journal of Industrial Ecology 7(3ndash4) 5ndash9

Thielen M 2010 Biorefinery Blair Nebraska Bioplastics Magazine 3(5)22ndash24

Wells P and C Zapata 2011 Eco-industrialism The potential forinclusive growth with bio-plastic production in Brazil using sugar-cane ethanol Paper presented at the 3rd International Workshopon Advances in Cleaner Production Sao Paulo Brazil 18ndash20May 2011

About the Authors

Peter Wells is a Reader at the Centre for Automo-tive Industry Research Cardiff Business School and at theCentre for Business Relationships Accountability Sustain-ability and Society at Cardiff University Cardiff UKClovis Zapata is a senior research associate at the InternationalPolicy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) of the UnitedNations Development Programme Brasilia Brazil

4 Journal of Industrial Ecology