Integrated biosystems for resource conservation in rural industries: an Australian experience

Abstract

For many years now, industrial production structures have started with raw materials and other inputs and finished with manufactured goods and waste products. These linear pathways are contributing to natural resource shortages, increased emissions into the atmosphere, pressure on water supplies, and problems with disposal of steadily accumulating solid wastes. Within the new science of industrial ecology, 'integrated biosystems', wherein the wastes and by-products of one firm are used as inputs for another firm, is a means of creating a 'waste loop'. In theory, this can achieve more 'service' from a given amount of natural resource use at the same time as lowering some input costs and environmental impacts. In Australia, a research team, which includes the authors, is attempting to design and implement such a system amongst a group of co-located firms in a rural town. This paper reports on our experience to date, with a view to alerting policy-makers to the potential benefits of such projects and also to some unexpected institutional constraints we have encountered. The constraints will need to be addressed before initiatives such as this can become commonplace.