Bringing industrial ecology down to earth in Waitakere City: assessing industrial ecology as a mechanism for promoting sustainable industrial development

Abstract

Since its recent inception the field of industrial ecology has received much attention for its potential to guide industry towards greater sustainability. The concept advocates integrating human economic activity into the wider environment and proposes that industrial systems be redesigned to better match, and thereby better capture, the radical productivity of natural ecosystems. Examples of industrial ecology have sprung up across the world, notably in Asia, Europe and America; however the concept has not taken root in New Zealand and there appears very little knowledge of its adaptability to the environment here. Waitakere City Council expects the majority of the City's growth over the next twenty years to be centred on its Northern Region Strategic Growth Area and it is felt that industrial ecology may hold some potential as a framework or model for ensuring this growth is sustainable. However there is a gap in knowledge in Waitakere of how to implement industrial ecology, or what consequences it would have for development in the area. An analytical framework was developed to help target key players in the Waitakere City environment and a series of in-depth interviews was undertaken. This led to the recommendation that industrial ecology could most successfully contribute to the development of sustainable industry in Waitakere City by providing a mechanism for identifying market and regulatory barriers to sustainability.