E-Simbioza – Leading the Way to a Circular Economy through Industrial Symbiosis in Slovenia

Abstract

This paper provides a first insight into the level of understanding and implementation of industrial symbiosis (IS) in Slovenia. It is based on an online survey of a small sample of organizations actively involved in waste management. The results show that while their motivation to engage in IS include various environmental and economic benefits, as well as social responsibility, the concept and practice of IS is not well understood even within this group of organizations. Organizations that engage in IS would benefit from online tools enabling them to optimize their search for potential IS stakeholders with relevant types of waste materials for exchange. While the small sample size does not allow for generalizations, it provides evidence that an online platform to support IS can substantially contribute to a shift towards a circular economy. The article concludes with the presentation of one such successful initiative-e-Simbioza-as well as some guidelines for its future development.

Urban Strategies Enabling Industrial and Urban Symbiosis: The Case of Slovenia

“…Regarding the reaction of companies to the online platform for sharing information on waste and byproducts between companies, we again came to similar conclusions as those of Rončevič and Fric [20]. Companies would await this opportunity to create future collaborations and possible IS and/or UrS with great interest, as such online tools would allow them to optimize their search for potential IS actors with relevant types of byproducts, or waste materials, for exchange.…”

“…In Slovenia, the topic of IS is only reflected in written contributions after 2010, but all but one were published in 2015-2020. This means that the subject is quite new on the national level, and its concept and practice is still not well understood [20]. The issues IS addresses are also different from international ones, focusing mainly on actors (e.g., trust building between actors for sharing materials, knowledge, etc.)…”

“…The identification of development potentials and methods, tools and instruments suitable for Slovenia, based on successful examples of good practice in both IS and/or UrS, could focus primarily on stakeholder involvement and education. As Rončevič and Fric [20] also note, the concept and practice of IS is not well understood even within a small sample of organizations actively involved in waste management. This finding is similar to our experience in the fifth step of the research.…”

ICT Usage in Industrial Symbiosis: Problem Identification and Study Design

“…Only [19] and [21] considered informational barriers separate from social aspects, albeit exclusively with reference to information systems. The survey of [21] reveals that some companies consider inadequate information management systems to be a barrier.…”

“…The survey of [21] reveals that some companies consider inadequate information management systems to be a barrier. The survey of [19] shows that 49 out of 50 respondents would use an online platform to search for potential partners if one was available. However, in both studies, no further information is given regarding the information system/online platform (information types, functionality, access structure, users, etc.).…”