Industrial symbiosis in the forestry sector: A case study in southern Brazil

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is an important concept in the field of industrial ecology that has disseminated worldwide as a practice to decrease the ecological impact of industrial processes through the exchange of by‐products and waste between units in a system. The forestry industry is the main econ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of industrial ecology Vol. 23; no. 6; pp. 1470 - 1482
Main Authors Wahrlich, Júlia, Simioni, Flávio José
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New Haven Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.12.2019
Subjects
Bark
Companies
Cooperation
Ecology
Economic activity
Economic conditions
Ecosystems
environmental management
Exchanging
Forestry
industrial arrangements
Industrial ecology
industrial ecosystem
industrial symbiosis
principal component analysis
Questionnaires
Sawdust
Shavings
Symbiosis
Trade
Waste management
Waste materials
Waste streams
Brazil
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Summary:Industrial symbiosis (IS) is an important concept in the field of industrial ecology that has disseminated worldwide as a practice to decrease the ecological impact of industrial processes through the exchange of by‐products and waste between units in a system. The forestry industry is the main economic activity in the region of Lages in southern Brazil. IS relationships have expanded with the use of waste material from wood processing and strengthened cooperation between companies in different sectors. The aims of this article were to: a) quantify the level of IS in the system, b) identify the benefits of IS for participants, and c) explain why the network further developed IS to the formation of an industrial ecosystem. A questionnaire was administered during visits to 24 forestry companies in order to analyze their products and processes, commercial relations, positive impacts, and local insertion. The industrial symbiosis indicator (ISI) was determined using waste stream data from the system to represent the level of symbiosis among the companies in this region. The results show that the companies participate in a symbiotic network, mainly involving the exchange of chips, bark, sawdust and shavings. In most cases, these exchanges occur between nearby companies, constituting an extensive industrial ecosystem.
Bibliography:Funding information
The authors are grateful for funding from the Postgraduate Monitoring Scholarship Program (PROMOP) of the State University of Santa Catarina for the development of this study.
Editor Managing Review: Weslynne S. Ashton
ISSN:1088-1980
1530-9290
DOI:10.1111/jiec.12927