Industrial symbiosis (IS) emerged as a self-organizing business strategy
among firms that are willing to cooperate to improve their economic
and environmental performance. The adoption of such cooperative strategies
relates to increasing costs of waste management, most of which are
driven by policy and legislative requirements.
Development of IS depends on an enabling context of social, informational,
technological, economical and political factors. The power to influence
this context varies among the agents involved such as the government,
businesses or coordinating entities. Governmental intervention, as
manifested through policies, could influence a wider range of factors;
and we believe this is an area which is under-researched.
This paper aims to critically appraise the waste policy interventions
from supra-national to sub-national levels of government. A case
study methodology has been applied to four European countries i.e.
Denmark, the UK, Portugal and Switzerland, in which IS emerged or
is being fostered.
The findings suggest that there are commonalities in policy instruments
that may have led to an IS enabling context. The paper concludes
with lessons learnt and recommendations on shaping the policy context
for IS development.