An industrial symbiosis-based solution to cope with delays in waste and wastewater management in south Europe regions

The potential for setting up new Industrial Symbiosis synergies in waste/wastewater management is often limited by a variety of non-technical barriers. These barriers include environmental regulations, a lack of cooperation and trust among industrial systems, economic and legislative barriers, and last but not least, a lack of information on the possible benefits that can be achieved. The purpose of this work is to propose a new model of industrial symbiosis (IS) that can close the loop between waste, wastewater and energy from a sustainable point of view. Three different scenarios, applied to a reference metropolitan area in a Southern Mediterranean region, have been investigated in this study with the aim of comparing different approaches, starting from the current scenario, for the future management of waste, wastewater and the associated energy recovery systems in perspective of Industrial Symbiosis with the aim of shifting from the current linear approach in waste and wastewater management to a completely circular management through a holistic approach fully exploiting the water-waste-energy nexus. Through this approach a large savings should be obtained in terms of new resources, energy, as well as a significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and toxic substances.