ENV 609 Advanced Industrial Ecology Seminar: Global Approaches to Industrial Symbiosis

Faculty: Marian Chertow

Wednesday mornings from 9:00–10:20 am and Wednesday afternoons (TBA), based on student schedulesÒâ╗Sage 32

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Seminar Description

Industrial Symbiosis examines the idea that the "waste" from one enterprise can become the raw material for another—and is studied at YSE as a sub-discipline of industrial ecology. By taking a systems approach to analyzing the inputs and outputs of various interconnected businesses, Industrial Symbiosis can simultaneously improve a firm's operational efficiency, stimulate regional economic growth, and reduce climate impacts. On the practical side, this seminar will give future business and environmental leaders experience using an actionable framework to analyze and redesign their industries – from small start-ups to large industrial parks – in a more sustainable way. This course is open to students of all disciplines and will enable them to work on projects at the cutting edge of circular economy, upcycling, co-opetition, adaptive reuse, social networks, and other concepts.

What to Expect

This seminar takes a deep dive into the development processes, approaches, and performance of Industrial Symbiosis projects by learning from leading professionals and scholars on almost every continent. Each week, the morning session will focus on a different geography, bringing in experts to discuss their projects, findings, and best practices. This special feature of the seminar takes full advantage of ZOOM to bring in guests from specific projects in most of these countries: South Korea, Australia, the US, Denmark, South Africa, Israel, Mexico, Iceland, and those with projects working with the World Bank.

Afternoon sessions will include exercises, discussions of various theories and frameworks, and assembling comparisons across the variety of projects reviewed. Evaluation is based on participation and a term project through which students select and explore themes and cases of symbiosis from across the world. By the end of the semester, we hope to produce the material for an edited volume or report that illustrates and analyzes the different ways Industrial Symbiosis is developing globally.

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