TY - JOUR
T1 - A holistic technological eco-innovation methodology for industrial symbiosis development
AU - Castiglione, Claudio
AU - Yazan, Devrim Murat
AU - Alfieri, Arianna
AU - Mes, Martijn
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Center for Future Sustainable Technologies, for funding the doctoral thesis about fostering new technologies and processes for the transition toward a circular economy. We also would like to acknowledge the editor and the referees for their valuable feedback that helped us to improve the quality and clarity of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Technological eco-innovation plays a crucial role in improving economic-environmental performance by increasing the resource efficiency. Holistic eco-innovative approaches are more effective than focused ones because they address the product, process, and organizational dimensions simultaneously, and thus, engender better economic-environmental performance. Accordingly, we propose a holistic methodology to improve resource efficiency in production systems by concurrently evaluating three dimensions, namely, introducing new products, reducing process inefficiencies, and creating value through waste exchange within the framework of industrial symbiosis. Thus, industrial symbiosis becomes a part of a holistic eco-innovative strategy by primarily supporting organizational eco-innovation, rather than a stand-alone concept. In this study, the developed methodology follows a combination of an abductive approach and action research through cooperation with an Italian company, which is the object of our case study for observing the effectiveness of the holistic approach. The case study highlights the twofold aspects of resource efficiency improvement, namely, value creation through inefficiency reduction and implementing industrial symbiosis partnerships. Our findings show that addressing both aspects simultaneously can lead to better economic-environmental performance. Moreover, integrating industrial symbiosis with a resource efficiency improvement strategy increases the coordination of eco-innovation actions and can lead to better investment allocation.
AB - Technological eco-innovation plays a crucial role in improving economic-environmental performance by increasing the resource efficiency. Holistic eco-innovative approaches are more effective than focused ones because they address the product, process, and organizational dimensions simultaneously, and thus, engender better economic-environmental performance. Accordingly, we propose a holistic methodology to improve resource efficiency in production systems by concurrently evaluating three dimensions, namely, introducing new products, reducing process inefficiencies, and creating value through waste exchange within the framework of industrial symbiosis. Thus, industrial symbiosis becomes a part of a holistic eco-innovative strategy by primarily supporting organizational eco-innovation, rather than a stand-alone concept. In this study, the developed methodology follows a combination of an abductive approach and action research through cooperation with an Italian company, which is the object of our case study for observing the effectiveness of the holistic approach. The case study highlights the twofold aspects of resource efficiency improvement, namely, value creation through inefficiency reduction and implementing industrial symbiosis partnerships. Our findings show that addressing both aspects simultaneously can lead to better economic-environmental performance. Moreover, integrating industrial symbiosis with a resource efficiency improvement strategy increases the coordination of eco-innovation actions and can lead to better investment allocation.
KW - Eco-innovation methodology
KW - Industrial symbiosis
KW - Mathematical modeling
KW - Resource efficiency
KW - Waste-To-Energy supply chain
KW - 22/1 OA procedure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119381351&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.spc.2021.09.002
DO - 10.1016/j.spc.2021.09.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119381351
SN - 2352-5509
VL - 28
SP - 1538
EP - 1551
JO - Sustainable Production and Consumption
JF - Sustainable Production and Consumption
ER -