Regional development and inter-industry recycling linkages: some historical perspectives

This paper examines the processes leading to the spontaneous development of industrial recycling linkages. The famous ‘industrial symbiosis’ that formed in and around the Danish city of Kalundborg and other similar cases in other parts of Europe and North America are taken as a point of departure. These recycling linkages were found to be primarily the result of the entrepreneurial actions that aimed to create value out of by-products and/or to reduce production costs through the adoption of new inputs. As the incentives driving this behaviour are not new, this paper contends that ‘industrial symbiosis’ is not, as is usually believed, a break with past practices, but rather a widespread phenomenon that has been neglected by contemporary researchers. Historical evidence is provided to support this claim. It is argued that while significant inter-firm recycling linkages will spontaneously emerge at the regional level, these should not be forced at the expense of inter-regional linkages.