An eco-industrial park (EIP) can be defined as a community of manufacturing and service businesses located together on a common property. Member businesses seek enhanced environmental, economic, and social performance through collaboration in managing environmental and resource issues. The EIP concept has evolved to address additional, interrelated aspects, including, for example: resource efficient and cleaner production, industrial symbiosis, climate change, pollution, social standards, shared infrastructure, improved management of risks and shared resources, including land and ecosystem services.

Industrial parks are an important driver of industrialization. By grouping businesses in a dedicated co-location, they offer important efficiency and collaborative opportunities. For instance, by implementing circular economy practices. EIP is a more advanced version of industrial park: besides economic benefits, it results in environmental and social benefits, thus promoting sustainable development and long-term competitiveness.

Reducing environmental footprints; promoting efficiency gains and cost-effectiveness; enabling community cohesion; resilience to various types of risks, providing better access to finance and technical support; and enhancing competitiveness.

It is a means by which companies can gain a competitive advantage through the physical exchange of materials, energy, water and by-products, thereby fostering inclusive and sustainable development. Industrial symbiosis engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and/or by-products. Industrial symbiosis often deals with the use of a previously disposed waste (as solid, liquid, gas) from one facility by another facility to provide a valuable by-product.

The framework defines the basic requirements and performance criteria needed for an industrial park to qualify as EIP. These are divided in for four key categories: park management performance, environmental performance, social performance, and economic performance. As a baseline, EIPs must comply with all applicable local and national regulations. The performance requirements are defined so that environmental and social commitments go beyond prevailing regulatory requirements in the country. Industrial symbiosis engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and/or by-products. Industrial symbiosis often deals with the use of a previously disposed waste (as solid, liquid, gas) from one facility by another facility to provide a valuable by-product.

Compliance with national and local regulations is the baseline for all industrial parks, whatever the geographical location and specific characteristics of the park. Eco-industrial parks therefore should go beyond compliance with local and national regulations on environmental and social requirements. EIPs and resident firms need to comply with all applicable national and local laws, regulations, and standards. This includes, but is not limited to, compliance with: national employment regulations; discharge limits; national air emission limits; waste disposal techniques; waste transportation requirements; hazardous waste handling restrictions; and noise limits during operations. In this context, the park management entity should have a monitoring system in place to report on the performance of firms, such as the ISO 19600, which provides guidance on establishing, developing, implementing, evaluating, maintaining, and improving a compliance management program. In applying the EIP performance requirements to a specific park, stakeholders, particularly governments, authorities and park managers, will be required to monitor national and local compliance. EIPs should seek to align with international good practices when national regulations fall short of EIP expectations.

A formalized, well-functioning and financially sustainable park management entity can deliver a range of benefits, including the following: • Having a single management entity to interface with resident firms, provide customer-oriented services, and engage with stakeholders will result in efficiency gains; • Having a single entity to drive the overall strategy for resource efficient and clean production, circular economy practices and social standards, will help to meet national and international expectations in attracting local and international investment. The management entity should market the park as a sustainable business location adhering to international environmental and social standards; • An environmentally- and socially-orientated management team can identify synergies and opportunities for collaborative approaches among park firms, and help achieve mutual environmental and social goals and targets; and • A dedicated entity is better able to disseminate knowledge and inform stakeholders about new technologies and successful interventions available to EIP firms.