Session 35 - Circular economy and industrial symbiosis

The aim of green production and consumption is to adopt the idea of supplying the consumers with products that fulfill their needs with lower consequences on the environment. This concept, introduced in 1970, aims to protect the environment and to have better control over natural resources. This study is aiming at investigating the consumers’ purchase behaviors toward green products which can help decision-makers identify the tools that may be needed to promote green products in UAE markets. The study was conducted through the distribution of a self-administered questionnaire to assess green purchase practices and public knowledge about green products. The study concluded that the quality of green products is the most important factor that the UAE’s consumers consider for their decision regarding the green purchase. Eco-labeling may not be well understood among the studied population, and more awareness is needed about Eco-labeling among the community. This study showed that social media is a very important and effective tool to spread and influence green purchase practices among the residents.

For the purposes of the SWAN Project, an integrated suite of on-line resources and tools has been developed aiming to assess novel industrial business models based on solid industrial waste reuse. One of the major components of this platform is an inventory of commercially implemented best practices. This inventory will both inform all registered users about the current opportunities for waste reuse and also serve as the basis for the SWAN matching algorithm.
For all the practices or technologies included in the database, the following characteristics have been collected: (i) The type of the industrial plant supplying the waste stream; (ii) The type of the industrial plant receiving the waste stream; and (iii) The type of the waste stream exchanged between source and sink;
The Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community has been used for the categorization of the industrial plant types whereas for the waste streams both the European Waste Catalogue and the European Waste Classification for Statistics have been applied. The database has been populated with more than 100 entries and has led to the identification of the most common symbiotic opportunities based on solid waste reuse.

Turning waste into new resources in small and medium sized enterprises (SME). During a three years period (2015-2018) a project involving SME's, was carried out in corporation of six Danish municipalities, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Symbiosis Center Denmark. The project was financed by EU. The project focused on industrial symbioses, optimizing resources and/or potential waist minimalization. Initially 107 SME's where screened for their potential to join the project. Of these 52 SME's were offered a technical development plan and 42 SME's were offered a green development plan. The outcome of the project showed following potential savings: • Energy: 36.222 GJ/year • Materials: 10.416 tons/year • Water: 20.935 tons/year • CO2 emission savings: 4.908 ton/year This corresponds to 1 million euro saved. If all the proposed solutions are implemented, it will result in at least 24 new jobs in the participating SME's. Putting resource efficiency and industrial symbiosis on the agenda of small and medium-sized enterprises showed that sustainable growth can be achieved. It requires companies that are ready to think differently and are open to new ways of doing business.