ECO-INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN GREECE EXISTING SITUATION BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Since the official establishment of the Industrial Symbiosis (IS) in Kalundborg, Denmark, there have been a lot of effort in understanding and promoting Eco-Industrial Development (EID) as a mean to achieve sustainable industrial growth. Under the perspective of Industrial Ecology (IE), EID is a way of mimicking natural ecosystem for better environmental and economic outcomes. The core of EID is a methodological approach for networking waste and by-product exchanges in a closed-loop industrial synergistic system Despite the evident environmental, economic and social benefits of the successful implemented examples, EID in Greece is still a relatively unknown concept. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to identify the barriers and opportunities regarding EID, at an early stage of planning, in order to determine and adjust the needs, the capabilities and specifications. This paper aims to discuss the existing situation of EID in Greece and identify barriers to its implementation. This is achieved with a review of the most commonly addressed multi-level barriers of EID in the existing literature, but also capitalising on previous knowledge and research in the concept of EID. Moreover, besides identified barriers, this paper discusses opportunities that arise in Greece that may facilitate EID in the near future.