Collaboration Platform for Enabling Industrial Symbiosis: Application of the By-product Exchange Network Model

Industrial symbiosis is enabled when physical exchanges of by-products take place between companies within and across different industries. It can be an important strategy in realising the vision of “zero waste to landfill” especially for a land-scarce country like Singapore. The success of industrial symbiosis relies on companies working collectively and collaboratively with the common goal of mutual economic and environmental sustainability. However, one major barrier faced by companies is the lack of information and knowledge of what are possible and available as by-product exchanges. With this as the motivation, this paper introduces the system architecture of a collaboration platform for enabling industrial symbiosis. Within the system architecture, we focus on the by-product exchange network (BEN) model. Then using a case study of food waste in Singapore, we demonstrate the application of the model as a decision support tool for companies to evaluate the economic viability of industrial symbiosis.