In industrial symbiosis, the conversation often starts with technology: new recovery processes, innovative treatment solutions, or alternative uses for industrial by-products. But in practice, technology is rarely the main bottleneck.

The real challenge lies elsewhere.

Every year, large volumes of potentially valuable resources remain unused—not because solutions do not exist, but because they require multiple actors to work together. In many cases, no single company can capture the value alone. Making these opportunities viable means aligning interests, aggregating flows, sharing risks, and coordinating decisions across organisations.

This is where many symbiosis initiatives stall.

Industrial symbiosis is often presented as a matter of matching a waste stream with a use. In reality, the most impactful solutions are not simple exchanges—they are structured, multi-actor projects. They involve designing new value chains, building agreements between companies, and ensuring long-term operational and economic viability.

This requires a specific set of capabilities that are still largely underdeveloped: the ability to connect stakeholders, facilitate collaboration, and structure projects across organisational boundaries.

In this sense, industrial symbiosis is not only a technical or environmental challenge—it is also a skills challenge.

As highlighted in the INSET training approach, roles such as the IS Planner and the IS Project Manager are essential to bridge this gap: identifying opportunities, engaging stakeholders, and managing the complexity of implementation across different actors .

These roles are not about replacing companies or making decisions on their behalf. They are about enabling collaboration—reducing friction, building trust, and translating potential into concrete, operational projects.

Reframing industrial symbiosis in this way changes the question. Instead of asking what each company can do with its own resources, it becomes a question of what can be achieved when the right actors are connected and supported by the right capabilities.

Because in many cases, the difference between an unrealised opportunity and a functioning symbiosis project is not technology—it is the ability to make collaboration work.

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Industrial symbiosis is often presented as a smart matching process: identifying by-products, surplus heat, wastewater or secondary raw materials and connecting companies that can use them. We analyse technical feasibility, regulatory pathways and environmental savings.

Yet one decisive factor often determines whether a symbiosis opportunity becomes reality or remains theoretical: logistics.

Industrial symbiosis is built on physical flows — solid residues, liquids, gases or energy streams such as waste heat. What moves between companies is not just a “resource”, but a continuous flow that must be collected, sometimes stored or pre-treated, transported safely and properly documented. Without reliable and economically viable logistics, even the most promising exchange will not materialise.

Geography plays a central role. Transport costs can quickly undermine the business case, especially for low-value or high-volume materials. Proximity, load optimisation and coordinated planning often determine success.

Environmental performance also depends on transport design. If poorly organised, logistics can offset part of the environmental gains of a symbiotic exchange. Assessing distances, transport modes and handling requirements is therefore essential.

Logistics is also closely linked to regulation. When materials are still classified as waste, traceability, documentation and compliance requirements become critical. The legal status of a material directly affects how it can be transported and by whom.

Industrial symbiosis does not end with identifying a match. Real impact emerges when materials circulate in a stable, efficient and compliant way. In this sense, logistics is not a secondary detail — it is a core enabler of circular value chains.

L'articolo The Circulatory System of Industrial Symbiosis: Why Logistics Makes (or Breaks) Circular Value Chains proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

Today, however, with the entry into force of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the new ESRS standards, European companies are required not only to reduce their environmental impact, but to measure it, certify it, and make it reportable.

Processes such as Industrial Symbiosis — namely the collaborative use of waste streams between companies — remain one of the most promising yet still underutilized strategies to support businesses in optimizing waste management and creating new value. While European initiatives like INSET work to raise awareness and develop the necessary capabilities for these practices through education and digital tools, the question remains:
how does all this translate into real-world implementation?

Sistemi Formativi Confindustria, has identified Regusto as a best practice example providing a compelling answer. Selected by SFC for its proven results, Regusto’s journey — from facilitating food donations to enabling cross-sector resource exchanges — demonstrates how digital platforms can support industrial symbiosis.

Within this shift — from operational cost to ESG data — Regusto fits in as an Italian digital platform that, over the past ten years, has transformed surplus recovery into a true infrastructure for industrial symbiosis and sustainability reporting.

Founded in 2016, alongside Italy’s Law 166 against food waste, Regusto initially focused on food. But its scope soon expanded: non-food items, furniture, technical equipment, industrial by-products, construction materials, and upcycling.

What started as a system to facilitate donations has now become a digital ecosystem connecting companies, non-profit organizations, and public administrations, transforming waste streams into traceable environmental, social, and economic value.

From food to the circular economy: a “natural” evolution:

“The creation of Regusto followed both market developments and regulatory changes,” explains Paolo Rellini, CEO and Co-Founder.
“We started with food, then companies asked us to manage non-food items, furniture, and by-products. It was an almost natural evolution, driven by real needs.”

The model, designed from the outset, has remained the same:
companies make their surplus available, non-profit organizations recover it, while public administrations monitor the flows across the territory.
Three actors, each with tangible benefits, connected through a digital platform.

From waste management to ESG value creation:

Traditionally, disposal represents only a cost.
Regusto reverses this logic: surplus becomes measurable assets.

Each recovery operation generates certifiable data: CO₂ avoided, resources saved, economic value recovered, social impact on the territory, reduced disposal costs, and tax benefits.

These indicators are processed according to international standards, validated with academic partners and third parties, and automatically feed into ESG reports ready for sustainability reporting.

“In fact,” explains Rellini, “companies that join already obtain part of their ESG report developed. Everything we track becomes reportable data. Not just communication, but verifiable numbers.”

The result is a paradigm shift:
recovery is no longer an occasional activity, but a structured, scalable process that can be integrated into corporate strategy.

The technological infrastructure:

At the core of the system is a platform that combines:

• geolocalized matching between supply and demand
• digitalization of document flows
• blockchain-based traceability
• artificial intelligence algorithms for logistics optimization
• certified calculation of environmental, social, and economic impacts
• automated ESG dashboards and reports

However, technology is not just an operational tool.

“Our role also includes project support,” Rellini emphasizes.
“We help companies digitize processes, access tax incentives, and simplify bureaucracy. We make recovery simple and convenient.”

A network growing across the territory:

Today, Regusto connects over 2,000 non-profit organizations — including Banco Alimentare, Caritas, the Red Cross, and Progetto Arca — alongside major retail and industrial groups.

The local model reduces logistical distances and facilitates exchanges, but the platform is designed to be scalable at regional and European levels.

Concrete use cases include:

• recovery of surplus retail food and non-food items
• redistribution of PPE and healthcare materials
• management of corporate relocations with furniture recovery (Generali, Deloitte, eBay, L’Oréal, Saipem)
• thousands of goods diverted from disposal and put back into circulation

At the same time, B2B pilots are emerging, where one company’s waste becomes another’s production input, creating true industrial symbiosis schemes.

Do platforms really work at the local level?

When asked whether models like this only make sense at a territorial scale, Rellini explains:

“The local dimension is essential to initiate relationships and reduce logistical impacts. But technology enables scaling. The model can be replicated in other territories, districts, or countries. In fact, that’s where it becomes truly powerful.”

Regusto is currently launching pilot projects in Spain and German-speaking countries, where stricter regulations make traceability even more strategic.

The construction sector: a new frontier

Among the sectors with the greatest potential is construction.

“It’s a complex world, but with enormous environmental impacts and huge recovery opportunities,” the CEO notes.
“In Spain, there are already regulatory obligations pushing companies to track and certify materials. In Italy, we are still in an exploratory phase, but interest is strong.”

Construction sites, demolitions, and new developments generate large volumes of recoverable materials. Digitizing them means obtaining environmental certifications, financial advantages, and easier access to green credit.

What is slowing down adoption?

According to Rellini, the main barrier is cultural and regulatory.

“In Italy, without an obligation or economic incentive, companies struggle to take action. Where there is a concrete benefit, change happens quickly.”

For this reason, Regusto also works with industry associations and public administrations, which can use territorial data for environmental policies, monitoring, and even waste tariff reductions.

A data infrastructure for circularity:

After ten years, the project has moved beyond the logic of simple donation. Regusto is increasingly positioning itself as a digital infrastructure for the circular governance of territories, capable of:

• reducing waste and costs
• generating social impact
• producing certifiable ESG KPIs
• simplifying reporting
• fostering industrial symbiosis between companies

In a Europe that demands transparency and measurability, the value lies not only in recovering resources, but in demonstrating the impact generated.

It is precisely in this transition — from waste to certified data — that Regusto’s distinctive contribution takes shape.

L'articolo Regusto: the Italian platform turning waste into measurable ESG assets proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

A key topic for Europe’s transitions

Under the theme “Local loops, global impacts”, the event highlighted industrial ecology as a strategic lever for rethinking production and consumption systems. Through a keynote lecture, testimonials from practitioners and a roundtable discussion, participants explored both the territorial dimension of ecological transition and the skills required to support it. Discussions emphasized the importance of cooperation between universities, businesses and public institutions, as well as the growing role of innovation and circular economy approaches within European climate and energy policies.
A dynamic multi-stakeholder ecosystem at the heart of the event
One of the defining strengths of the JEEI was the remarkable diversity and scale of its participation. The event mobilised a broad range of internal stakeholders from the University of Strasbourg, demonstrating strong institutional engagement across faculties, services and initiatives. Beyond the university, the JEEI brought together a rich ecosystem of external partners, highlighting the deep anchoring of the INSET project within its socio-economic and European environment. This included the Industrial Ecology Club of Aube (CEIA), Autonomous Port of Strasbourg, Initiatives Durables, local and regional authorities, economic development actors, as well as numerous European partners involved in Erasmus+ projects. Companies, professional organisations and associations were also strongly represented, contributing concrete field experiences and showcasing innovative practices in industrial ecology.
This broad participation created a vibrant space for dialogue, collaboration and knowledge exchange, reinforcing the JEEI as a truly European platform connecting academia, public institutions and industry around shared sustainability challenges.

A strong professionalisation experience for students

At the heart of the INSET project, the JEEI fully embodies the ambition to bridge academic training and real-world practice. For students from IRIUS and across the University of Strasbourg, the event provided a meaningful immersion into a rapidly emerging sector with strong career potential. It contributed to the development of key transversal skills, including project management, communication and intercultural cooperation, while also creating direct opportunities to engage with potential employers and partners. In addition, it offered a valuable platform for showcasing academic work within a professional and applied context.

A structuring initiative within the INSET ecosystem

Beyond a one-day event, the JEEI is part of a broader INSET dynamic aimed at building sustainable connections between European industrial ecology stakeholders. It reinforces the role of universities as key actors in ecological transitions, at the crossroads of education, research and innovation. By bringing together academic knowledge, professional expertise and territorial initiatives, the JEEI confirms its ambition to become a structuring and recurring European event, supporting a more sustainable, collaborative and resilient economy.

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The SYNERGie® Platform is a professional digital system developed by International Synergies to support the implementation of industrial symbiosis. It enables companies, industrial parks, and regional authorities to identify, develop, and monitor resource exchange opportunities that turn waste into value.

Industrial symbiosis is based on collaboration between businesses, where one company’s by-product, surplus material, energy, water, or waste stream becomes a resource for another. The SYNERGie® Platform facilitates this process through structured data collection, intelligent resource matching, and impact tracking.

At the core of the platform is a resource-matching system that analyses company inputs and outputs to identify technically and economically viable exchanges. Instead of informal networking alone, SYNERGie® provides a systematic and scalable approach to opportunity identification.

Key features of the platform include:

• Resource matching between businesses,
• Identification of cross-sector collaboration opportunities,
• Tracking of environmental impacts such as CO₂ reduction and waste diversion,
• Monitoring of economic benefits including cost savings and new revenue streams,
• Data-driven reporting for regional and national programmes.

The platform is widely used in industrial symbiosis programmes worldwide and supports policymakers, facilitators, and companies in delivering measurable circular economy outcomes. It enables regions to move from isolated pilot projects to structured and replicable symbiosis networks.

By combining digital intelligence with facilitation methodologies, the SYNERGie® Platform helps accelerate the transition toward a resource-efficient, low-carbon industrial system.

Link to the platform 

L'articolo Digital Resource Matching for Industrial Symbiosis Networks proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

In the coming months, the INSET project will launch a new key resource: the INSET Observatory, conceived as a dynamic and open-access hub for Industrial Symbiosis (IS) information.

The Observatory is designed as a live and continuously updated space, gathering valuable knowledge and practical tools to support businesses, stakeholders, and policymakers in advancing Industrial Symbiosis and strengthening the circular economy. It will centralise relevant content such as legislation, training courses, technical reports, methodologies, case studies, and other materials that contribute to raising awareness and deepening understanding of this powerful circular approach.

So far, the INSET partnership has already compiled more than 100 resources addressing different aspects of Industrial Symbiosis. These resources cover regulatory frameworks, business practices, implementation strategies, capacity-building opportunities, and key thematic areas linked to circular economy transitions. This initial collection represents a strong foundation that will continue to grow throughout the project’s lifetime.

The INSET Observatory will be fully open access, ensuring that its impact extends well beyond the 36 months of the project. By making these materials publicly available, INSET aims to facilitate knowledge transfer, support businesses in adopting Industrial Symbiosis practices, and contribute to a more resilient, sustainable, and competitive European economy.

Stay tuned for the official launch of the INSET Observatory — a new space to explore, learn, and connect around Industrial Symbiosis.

L'articolo INSET Observatory: A New Open-Access Hub for Industrial Symbiosis Resources proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

Mondragon University (Spain) is currently developing an innovative research and decision-support initiative that represents a promising best practice for advancing Industrial Symbiosis in multi-company industrial environments. The project focuses on creating a new algorithmic engine capable of identifying and optimizing symbiotic exchanges between industries, even under conditions of uncertainty. By integrating Enterprise Input–Output models, stochastic optimization techniques, Monte Carlo simulation, geospatial analysis, and artificial intelligence, the tool aims to support companies, clusters, and industrial parks in turning by-products into valuable resources while improving economic and environmental performance.

A first functional prototype has already been developed, allowing users to visualize industrial symbiosis networks and explore initial scenarios through an online pilot platform (https://simbioptimize.streamlit.app/). This approach highlights the growing importance of digital and practical solutions to accelerate collaboration, resource efficiency, and circular business models.

The initiative strongly connects with the objectives of the INSET project, as it contributes to bridging knowledge gaps and providing concrete tools that can enhance capacity building for both private and public actors. By supporting the identification of synergies and new cooperation opportunities, this type of innovation can play a key role in fostering the skills, networks, and enabling environments needed for Industrial Symbiosis to scale across Europe.

L'articolo New Research Initiative on Industrial Symbiosis Optimization and Collaboration Opportunities proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

BlueGreenery has developed a strong example of industrial symbiosis in Ostend through a collaboration with its neighbouring company Biostoom. Biostoom is a waste-to-energy plant that converts residual waste into green power and produces residual heat as part of its industrial process. Instead of letting this energy go unused, BlueGreenery and Biostoom created a partnership where by-products are used more efficiently across company boundaries.
BlueGreenery is an innovative food production company that grows seaweed on land and develops sustainable seaweed-based ingredients. Their land-based cultivation approach allows them to produce high-quality seaweed in a controlled environment, supporting the shift toward more circular and climate-friendly food systems.
A key part of this symbiosis is that BlueGreenery uses Biostoom’s residual heat to help maintain stable growing conditions. This reduces dependence on conventional energy sources and improves overall efficiency. What started as two neighbouring companies operating separately has evolved into a close partnership that supports both industrial sustainability and circular economy goals.
This collaboration shows how industrial symbiosis can turn waste streams into valuable resources. By connecting local green energy production with industrial heat demand, BlueGreenery and Biostoom strengthen their environmental performance while helping accelerate the transition to net-zero industry.

L'articolo Industrial Symbiosis in Ostend: BlueGreenery & Biostoom Join Forces proviene da INSET: industrial symbiosis for entreprises and training.

The industrial symbiosis expert community in Europe and worldwide is rapidly expanding, generating a growing number of implementation cases and practical experiments in by-product and waste recovery across industries. Sharing knowledge and replicable experiences is therefore essential to accelerate the transition towards circular and resource-efficient systems.

In this context, INSET presents key insights from the EU-funded SYMSITES webinar “Industrial–Urban Symbiosis in Practice: Lessons from Four EcoSites”, held on 29 January, which brought together local authorities, utilities and industry stakeholders to exchange practical experiences in implementing industrial–urban symbiosis (I-US) solutions.

Moving beyond theory, the session showcased real operational cases demonstrating how cities can shift from conventional waste management to a resource management approach, where wastewater, organic waste, energy and materials are treated as interconnected flows within local circular systems.

Four EcoSites, four implementation pathways

Each participating EcoSite illustrated a different entry point into industrial–urban symbiosis.

In Spain, partners presented the reuse of treated wastewater for industrial and agricultural applications, reducing pressure on freshwater resources while creating new value streams for utilities and local businesses.

The Austrian case focused on integrating organic waste treatment, biogas production and water recovery, demonstrating how energy and by-products can be reinjected into local cycles to support both municipal services and agriculture.

In Denmark, the emphasis was on high-quality waste separation and material recovery, considered prerequisites for increasing the value of secondary raw materials and enabling effective industrial partnerships.

Meanwhile, the Greek EcoSite addressed challenges related to material availability and seasonality, highlighting the importance of logistics, planning and flexible sourcing strategies to maintain stable symbiotic exchanges.

From technology to governance

A key message across all cases was that industrial–urban symbiosis is not only a technological challenge. While infrastructure and treatment solutions are essential, success largely depends on governance, coordination and collaboration.

Local authorities and public utilities emerged as critical system integrators, acting as facilitators between industries, infrastructure providers and communities. Their role includes aligning stakeholders, managing investments, and creating the regulatory and organisational conditions needed for resource flows to circulate efficiently.

By openly addressing regulatory constraints, organisational complexity and financial viability, the webinar provided realistic insights into what it takes to move from pilot initiatives to scalable systems.

Towards circular and resilient urban–industrial ecosystems

Overall, SYMSITES demonstrates how wastewater treatment plants and waste facilities can evolve into local circular hubs, generating environmental benefits, cost savings and new economic opportunities.

The experiences shared confirm that industrial–urban symbiosis is replicable across regions, provided that solutions are tailored to local contexts and supported by strong public–private partnerships.

For further insights and detailed information, the presentation slides from the webinar are available below.

SYMSITES replication webinar_MASTERDECK.pptx.

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