Potential for Eco-Industrial Park Development in Moncton, New Brunswick (Canada): A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Eco-industrial development projects are increasingly popular because of their ability to transform the traditional model of industrial parks into more sustainable forms of economic development. Still, few industrial parks worldwide have achieved the high degree of eco-transformation that characterizes eco-industrial parks (EIPs). Assessing the potential for eco-industrial development at the park or regional scale is an important step towards this goal. This study aimed to assess the potential for ecological development of a growing industrial park (Caledonia Industrial Estates (CIE), province of New Brunswick, Canada) following the principles of industrial ecology. A baseline survey of CIE businesses was conducted. The results were compared to results from similar assessments in three other industrial parks across Canada, located in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. The main categories used for comparison were business variety and size, public transportation, green spaces, energy and material use, and environmental management organization. While showing that CIE has EIP potential, the results revealed similarities and differences between the industrial parks studied, some of which were related to barriers limiting the efficient use and sharing of resources. One way that was identified that could help CIE incorporate eco-industrial activities into their operations would be the appointment of an environmental management organization or a shared environmental manager. Strategies to foster EIP development, in general, are also identified. These findings, based on actual business experiences, can help determine which actions and activities are suitable for CIE and other business communities that consider eco-industrial development as their next phase. They are particularly relevant to industrial parks in a development or redevelopment phase.

Measuring and Integrating Risk Management into Green Innovation Practices for Green Manufacturing under the Global Value Chain

“…Further, some scholars studied the evaluation of green innovation. LeBlanc et al [33] took the eco-industrial development project as an example to select the factors influencing the healthy development of the project and evaluate the potential of eco-industrial development. Deif [34] verified the system model through an industrial case and then proposed how to improve the comprehensive qualitative answer to the green question manufacturing system and the future quantitative research roadmap.…”

Implementation Barriers of Industrial Symbiosis: A Systematic Review

“…The economic category consist of barriers related to investment (e.g., different investment cycles [28], [29], [33] and change costs [14], [19], [31]), feasibility (e.g., conflicts with financial gains [15]), benefit sharing (e.g., difficulty to assign value [38] or to identify cost-benefits ex ante [14], [29], [33]), and costs (e.g., related to promotion [31] or transport [14], [38]). Additionally, the categories uncertainty (e.g., uncertain profits [33] and margins [28]) and risk [40] belong to the economic category.…”

“…Costs include, among others, transaction [9], [28], [33] or investment costs (e.g., [9], [36], [39]). While funding describes, e.g., the lack of funding [17], [31] or research funding [15], resources are mainly related to lacking financial resources [16], [35]. Moreover, the shortage of internal and the acquisition of external capital [28] are additional barriers to be considered.…”

“…This category consists of the factors commitment (e.g., lack of interest and engagement towards sustainable development (e.g., [8], [16], [28]) or the lack of behavioral change [38]), resources (e.g., lack of time (e.g., [14], [28], [31]) or lack of available and qualified personnel [15], [35], [40]). While the subcategory strategy in the category cooperation refers to the incompatibility of strategies of potential partners, strategy in the category management means that there are company-internal problems that prevent the implementation of industrial symbiosis (e.g., symbiosis may be misaligned with company's policies [19], the project is not channeled in the right way through the company [36] or inappropriate hierarchical organizational structure results in separated responsibilities and requires approval of corporate headquarters [29], [31]). Another subcategory is resistance from organizations (e.g., no willingness to risk existing supply chain [19] or aversion to change procedures and processes [14], [28]).…”

“…Knowledge-related barriers are first and foremost the lack of knowledge to identify and implement industrial symbiosis opportunities (e.g., technical [28], market [28] and environmental knowledge [31] or lack of expertise or experts (e.g., [8], [16], [33]) and lack of training (e.g., [31], [33], [39])) followed by awareness (e.g., unfamiliarity with industrial symbiosis concepts [33], [17], lack of recognition of waste as potential input [37] or unknown benefits [38]). Also, difficulty and lack of knowledge sharing (e.g., lack of mechanisms and methods to educate or learn [15], [17]) can hinder industrial symbiosis efforts.…”