Kalundborg Eco Industrial Park

The Kalundborg Eco Industrial Park is a partnership and industrial network between nine private and public companies located in Kalundborg, Denmark. The Park applies a circular approach to production, in which one manufacturer’s residual waste provides resources to another. This approach to production, called “industrial symbiosis,” is inspired by the biological phenomenon of symbiotic mutualism. Concept Map 1 illustrates the mutualistic relationship between a honey bee and a flower, in which both organisms benefit from one another. The Kalundborg partnership emulates this relationship.

Concept Map 2 depicts the actors within the Eco Industrial Park. Companies include an oil refinery, a wastewater treatment plant, an enzyme producer, a gypsum board manufacturer, an energy plant, an insulin manufacturer, a bioenergy plant, a municipal energy distributor, and local farms. The Symbiosis also connects to local Lake Tissø, which provides clean surface water for manufacturing processes. This map details the energy, water, and material flows between the “nodes” of the symbiotic network. It also shows the economic, environmental, and institutional benefits of the partnership.

Concept Map 3 explores the Kalundborg Symbiosis in a broader context. The park began simply as an economic partnership between two companies, with no oversight from a central organization. Over forty years, it has developed into an institution with a systematic approach to “industrial ecology.” This map also explores the idea of industrial symbiosis at a global scale. While expanding the Kalundborg model could yield great benefits, large scale industrial ecology inspires a myriad of concerns. Many of these concerns draw from lessons from history.

As you explore this map, pay particular attention to the evolution of systems and cycles. Notice the disorganization of the partnership in its infancy, and the disconnects between many of the concepts illustrated on the left side of the map. Notice how many of these concepts evolved into systems and relationships with time. Finally, notice scales. Consider the dangers in scaling Kalundborg’s industrial symbiosis, and be mindful of moments in history when innovations were scaled to excess without a wholistic eco-ethno- centered focus. Bear in mind these essential questions:

Does larger scale inherently mean better for a sustainable future?

What properties emerge when an industrial symbiosis moves from a local to institutional to global scale?

Can symbiosis be designed or must it arise naturally?

Does Kalundborg teach us lessons or give us tools to reach a sustainable future?

References:  Clapp & Dauvergne, Dauvergne, Howarth, Neumann, Walker & Salt, Aparisi, “Effective Industrial Symbiosis.”, “Home.”, Nielson, Meadows