Optimizing the Efficiency of Resource Exchange in Industrial Symbiosis (IS)

Industrial symbiosis (IS) has been emerged as an effective approach for collaborating industries to exchange resources (Boons et al. 2014). Empirical studies reveal that IS replicates the behaviors of natural ecosystems in which waste from one organism becomes a resource for another (Grant et al. 2010; Milani et al. 2018). As the profound definition in literature, IS engages the separate entities in a collective approach to gain a competitive advantage by involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products (Chertow 2007). The Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals comprehensively addresses the SDGs in an integrated way. It encompasses 17 volumes, each one devoted to one of the 17 SDGs. The volume addresses SDG 12, namely "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns" and contains the description of a range of terms, which allow a better understanding and foster knowledge.