Eco-Industrial Park

Town planning and community development and engagement factors primarily motivate the Kitakyushu Eco-Town programmes (Van Berkel et al., 2009). As a result, they raise environmental awareness by involving both the local government and community to strengthen their sense of belonging to the town. The programmes are highly driven by environmental remediation factors (Van Berkel et al., 2009). Recognising environmental black spots, the local government has been encouraged to take responsibility for improving the local community's quality of life. This advanced level of adoption has resulted in Kitakyushu Eco-Town receiving worldwide recognition (Fujita, 2008).

The Kitakyushu Eco-Town Centre and the Next Generation Energy Park were developed following technology-based experimental studies, to spread such good practices both locally and globally. The town centre offers inspection tours and visits to demonstrate recycling practices. Visitors to the energy park can observe next-generation energy sources, inter-company cooperation, and innovative technology research (Government of Kitakyushu, 2018).  The government supports these efforts in collaboration with academia and business. Academia provides an atmosphere conducive to basic research, while business aids practical research and the incubation of local enterprises.

Kawasaki Eco-Town has a similar aim, planning a model town where industry and environment coexist in harmony. The government enforces four basic policies, requiring companies to: become eco-friendly, collaborate to become eco-friendly on-site, conduct research on the sustainable development of coastal areas, and contribute to international communication (Government of Kawasaki, 2020). Its main recycling facilities convert waste plastics into products such as blast furnaces, concrete setting frames, ammonia, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. Recycling enterprises receive waste plastics in amounts that keep their business alive and profitable, through collaboration.

Tokyo emulated such efforts through the Super Eco-Town project, proposed in 2001, which aims for urban revitalisation, especially in seaside areas of the prefecture. The government has secured the necessary government-owned land to support the project, and allocated it to the development of facilities related to waste treatment and recycling (Government of Tokyo, 2019). The government is also responsible for deciding the type of facilities for the project and which companies will operate them, and is promoting the project to raise awareness among companies. Qualified and selected companies will receive government land, raise funds, and ensure business feasibility (Government of Tokyo, 2019).

2. China’s Eco-Industrial Park

China is also at the forefront of utilising eco-industrial parks, classified into sector-integrated groups (multisector industrial parks), venous groups (resource-recovery or secondary-material industrial parks), and sector-specific groups (primarily industrial parks with one main sector or correlated sectors) (Huang et al., 2019). By the end of 2015, the demonstration plans of 126 national eco-industrial parks were endorsed, consisting of 109 sector-integrated parks, 14 sector-specific parks, and three venous parks (Huang et al., 2019).

The eco-industrial parks are operated under the HJ 274-2015 national standard (Standard for National Demonstration Eco-Industrial Parks), which has been revised several times since it was first issued in 2006. The standard includes 32 evaluation indicators for national eco-industrial parks grouped into economic development, industrial symbiosis, resource conservation, environmental protection, and information disclosure. The latest version of HJ 274-2015 has been improved greatly by applying the three-in-one (three classifications of eco-industrial parks) standard, supplementing industrial symbiosis criteria, involving environmental risk control indicators, covering more environmental indicators, and providing optional indicators (Huang et al., 2019).

As well as administrating eco-industrial parks through the Ministry of Environmental Protection (now the Ministry of Ecology and Environment), China is transforming industrial park recycling entities into those similar to eco-industrial parks and agriculture-based parks. Led by the National Development and Reform Commission, the initiative’s main purpose is to transform industrial parks consuming vast resources and energy into high-resource utilisation and low-pollution entities (Wen et al., 2018). The initiative was one of the 10 major nationwide circular economy demonstration programmes proposed in the 10-100-1000 action plan of the 12th Five-Year Plan for Circular Economy Development issued by the State Council in 2012 (Wen et al., 2018). By 2017, 129 industrial parks had been approved for transformation (Wen et al., 2018).

The initiative is the key to enhancing circular development in China. Financial incentives are still needed, however, for environmentally sound products, as well as related research and technological support, and a transition to a model led by both government and the market to attract more investment (Wen et al., 2018).

China’s local governments facilitate symbiosis among industries to support the eco-industrial park concept, by subsidising and operationalising shared facilities for managing the disposal of recyclables and other waste (Thieriot and Sawyer, 2015). In Yinchuan, shared compactors and cutting machines are available at recyclable waste markets. Some areas have solar-powered waste compactors – waste bins that send a signal whenever they are full to alert collectors to pick up the waste (Hanly, 2017).

Beijing has a weighing scale for joint use in shops that collect electronic and motor vehicle components. In Suzhou, most enterprises outsource their waste management to a single company that charges them a disposal fee (Mo et al., 2009). Collecting and recycling industries are still lacking as most enterprises only produce consumer products. To fill the gap, the government of Tianjin has aggressively increased the number of collecting and recycling enterprises. A case study of the Tianjin Economic-technological Development Area (TEDA) shows industrial symbiosis is encouraged through internet-based information sharing by the local government through TEDA (Geng et al., 2007). TThe TEDA website allows enterprises to confidentially upload their waste statistics to the public database. Waste collection and recycling are then facilitated through the website for a fee.

One example of such TEDA symbiosis is between a landscape company and Danish biotechnology company Novozymes. The landscape company utilises biological sludge from Novozymes and organic waste from local industries and communities to produce organic fertiliser for landscaping (Geng et al., 2007).

The government attracts collecting and recycling industries by investing in a central sorting and recycling system, thus adding value and minimising transportation costs. The system serves as a transfer station to sort and recycle waste such as glass, plastic, and paper. It also transforms waste into a new resource, marketing products from recycled waste, and storing large amounts of valuable but unreclaimable waste such as batteries (Geng et al., 2007). The government encourages industries to treat their wastewater or be charged RMB1/tonne for sewage disposal. It has also invested in a centralised wastewater treatment plant to maintain the eco-industrial park's water circularity (Yu et al., 2014).A new water source plant was built to supply high-purity recycled water utilising reverse osmosis and continuous micro-filtration technologies. Figure 2 illustrates the overall TEDA water circularity.

Figure 2. TEDA water circularity

3. Sarimbun Recycling Park

Sarimbun Recycling Park (formerly part of the Lim Chu Kang dumping ground) contributes 25% of total waste recycled in Singapore (NEA, 2020), and is leased by 13 recycling companies. Faced with scarce land, the Singapore government plans to promote recycling collaboration under one roof through a multi-storey recycling facility in the park. Soil stability and strength and other feasibility indicators were assessed before construction. Such collaboration reduces transportation costs and incorporates recycling and other common facilities. It can also eliminate logistics costs, which are 20% of total costs (Jianyue, 2014). according to the senior executive for marketing of Cimelia Resource Recovery. The business development manager of Eveready Manufacturing also supports the idea of consolidated facilities, including electricity and water supply (Chua, 2014).

4. ‘Export’ of Resource-Recycling City

Such cooperation continues to address the same challenges in other ASEAN+3 countries. Japan exports its experiences in developing resource-recycling cities through cooperation with ASEAN+3 countries, including the cities of Surabaya (Indonesia), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Hai Phong (Viet Nam), and Rayong Province (Thailand) (Umemoto, 2012).

IHousehold waste has been reduced by 30% in Surabaya by involving more than 20,000 households in organic waste composting (Umemoto, 2012). Initiatives are also undertaken through Japan International Cooperation Agency projects on effluent treatment systems, drinking water supply systems, waste treatment, and cogeneration and energy saving. In Phnom Penh, on-site technological guidance has led to the rapid improvement of the water supply. Cooperation has helped develop new water-based business by introducing the water block system in Hai Phong. Thailand intends to copy the success of Kitakyushu Eco-Town by developing an eco-industrial town harmonising industries and communities in Rayong, which has many industrial factories along the eastern seaboard (Bangkok Post, 2013).

5. Gaps in ASEAN Countries

Developing eco-industrial parks is important in creating a circular economy, which contributes to reducing leakage of plastic waste into the ocean. Although some ASEAN countries have tried to copy Japan’s success with eco-town projects, gaps still exist between current policies, especially in supporting a circular economy through recycling industries. Low participation rates are a result of industries being responsible for the end-of-life of their products but still lacking policies for expanding and upgrading recycling. Emerging policies should bridge the gap between extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the recycling industry’s capacity. Shared facilities in eco-industrial parks in Japan and China have reduced costs and space used. Facilitating eco-industrial park development has a positive effect on the implementation of EPR policies and will further help countries achieve a circular economy.