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Kalundborg

‘Industrial symbiosis’ describes a group of businesses using each other’s residuals (waste and by-products) as 
raw materials. The network of six companies at Kalundborg has grown and sustained over twenty years through the development of transparent and well-understood commercial relationships.

Industrial Symbiosis

The network of interconnected businesses at Kalundborg, seventy-five miles west of Copenhagen in Denmark, first evolved as a way of sharing cost efficiencies across a range of different companies through the use of ‘waste’ products. Over time, the group become aware that the relationship was also benefiting the immediate environment through a reduced consumption of resources such as water, coal, oil, gypsum, fertilizer, and decreased emissions. Together, the companies have reduced overall water consumption by thirty percent through recycling and recirculating between partners. The Kalundborg companies have reduced their oil consumption by 20,000 tonnes per year, corresponding to a 250,000 tonne annual reduction of carbon dioxide and 380 tonne reduction of sulphur dioxide

There are six companies involved: Dong Energy Asnæs Power Station, plasterboard factory Gyproc A/S, pharmaceutical plant Novo Nordisk A/S, enzyme producer Novozymes A/S, oil refinery Statoil-Hydro A/S, recycling company RGS 90 A/S, waste company Kara/Noveren I/S, and the Kalundborg municipality. As well as cost efficiencies and improved environmental records, the companies report improved productivity without increased energy and raw materials consumption.

Kalundborg has identified the conditions that make its industrial symbiosis so effective. The top three are: 1) The companies fit each other: one company’s residual products take the place of another company’s raw material. That means local industry diversity is an important factor. 2) The companies are located near each other: the transport of residual products is over short distances only and therefore not costly. 3) The companies share a commitment to transparency: Kalundborg companies say the basis of their success is openness, communication and mutual trust. That Kalundborg is a small and distinct community helped establish the right conditions for open engagement.

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