From Eco-Industrial Parks to Circular Economy Industrial Parks: A Proposition to Revise Industrial Symbiosis in Light of Circular Economy Advancements
BP2-STS
- Coussa, Alexandre ORCID University of Fribourg, Department of Economics, Center for Competitiveness
- 2026
Published in:
- Journal of Circular Economy. - 2026, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 1315-1337
Circular Economy
Eco-Industrial Park
Circular Economy Industrial Park
Industrial Symbiosis
Circular Ecosystems
Industrial Ecology
English
This conceptual paper proposes a novel perspective on the relationship between the circular economy (CE) and eco-industrial parks (EIP). By systematically confronting dominant definitions of industrial symbiosis (IS) and EIP with contemporary CE frameworks, the paper identifies a structural misalignment between the design logic of classical EIP and the requirements of CE transitions.
While IS and EIP are grounded in industrial ecology and oriented toward optimizing material and energy flows within existing production systems, contemporary CE frameworks call for higher-order strategies, circular business model (CBM) innovation, and the development of open local circular ecosystems capable of challenging rather than consolidating incumbent linear regimes.
Building on this diagnosis, the paper introduces the concept of circular economy industrial parks (CEIP) as a distinct yet complementary analytical framework. CEIP advance a multi-dimensional conception of IS that extends beyond material and energy exchanges to encompass product, service, knowledge, and institutional symbiosis. By embedding co-located firms within broader territorial CE ecosystems, CEIP actively support the development and scaling of CBM across the full spectrum of CE strategies. They promote practices that better retain and decouple value from resource consumption, such as repair, remanufacturing, product-service systems and dematerialized and regenerative approaches while functioning as intermediaries at the meso level in CE socio-technical transitions.
This contribution clarifies the conceptual boundary between industrial ecology and the CE, calls for greater precision in IS scholarship, and opens new research and practical avenues concerning the design, governance, and territorial embedding of industrial parks in CE transitions.
While IS and EIP are grounded in industrial ecology and oriented toward optimizing material and energy flows within existing production systems, contemporary CE frameworks call for higher-order strategies, circular business model (CBM) innovation, and the development of open local circular ecosystems capable of challenging rather than consolidating incumbent linear regimes.
Building on this diagnosis, the paper introduces the concept of circular economy industrial parks (CEIP) as a distinct yet complementary analytical framework. CEIP advance a multi-dimensional conception of IS that extends beyond material and energy exchanges to encompass product, service, knowledge, and institutional symbiosis. By embedding co-located firms within broader territorial CE ecosystems, CEIP actively support the development and scaling of CBM across the full spectrum of CE strategies. They promote practices that better retain and decouple value from resource consumption, such as repair, remanufacturing, product-service systems and dematerialized and regenerative approaches while functioning as intermediaries at the meso level in CE socio-technical transitions.
This contribution clarifies the conceptual boundary between industrial ecology and the CE, calls for greater precision in IS scholarship, and opens new research and practical avenues concerning the design, governance, and territorial embedding of industrial parks in CE transitions.
- Faculty
- Faculté des sciences économiques et sociales et du management
- Language
-
- English
- Classification
- Economics
- License
-
CC BY
- Open access status
- gold
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.55845/joce-2026-41378
- ISSN 2752-163X
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/336210
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