Quantitative assessment of industrial symbiosis for the promotion of circular economy: a case study of the printed circuit boards industry in China's Suzhou New District

By strengthening material metabolism among collocated enterprises in leading industrial production chains in eco-industrial parks (EIPs), an industrial symbiosis (IS) system can be constructed, which is effective in strengthening the circular economy (CE). It has become important for EIPs to quantitatively evaluate the CE performance of the production chain while also seeking specific measures that could promote resources utilization efficiency. In this paper, we combine the substance flow analysis (SFA) approach with the resource productivity (RP) indicator to evaluate the contribution of IS to the development of circular economy. Through questionnaires and field surveys of key enterprises in Suzhou New District (SND), a substance flow analysis and resource productivity indicator were developed for core materials (copper, water and energy) in printed circuit boards (PCB) production under the excluding waste utilization scenario and including waste utilization scenario. The results show that the RPCu of chain from electrolytic copper production enterprises (ECPE) to electrolytic copper foil production enterprises is respectively 21.38 and 23.15 thousand yuan per ton, from ECPE to copper clad laminate (CCL) production enterprises is respectively 64.15 and 71.32 thousand yuan per ton, and from ECPE to PCB production enterprises is respectively 176.47 and 211.21 thousand yuan per ton under the two scenarios. RP is enhanced by prolonging the industrial production chain and the RP under the excluding waste utilization scenario is higher than the including waste utilization scenario for the same chain, which can be achieved through greater IS. Finally we propose further implications on developing CE in EIPs. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.