Eco-industrial park

An eco-industrial park (EIP) is an industrial park in which businesses cooperate with each other and with the local community in an attempt to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources (such as information, materials, water, energy, infrastructure, and natural resources), and help achieve sustainable development, with the intention of increasing economic gains and improving environmental quality.

[1] An EIP may also be planned, designed, and built in such a way that it makes it easier for businesses to co-operate, and that results in a more financially sound, environmentally friendly project for the developer.

Based on the concepts of industrial ecology, collaborative strategies not only include by-product synergy ("waste-to-feed" exchanges), but can also take the form of wastewater cascading, shared logistics and shipping & receiving facilities, shared parking, green technology purchasing blocks, multi-partner green building retrofit, district energy systems, and local education and resource centres.

As environmental regulations became stricter, firms were motivated reduce the cost of compliance, and turn their by-products into economic products.

With support from Dalhousie University’s Eco-Efficiency Centre,[4] the more than 1,500 businesses have been improving their environmental performance and developing profitable partnerships.

Green building practices can also be encouraged or mandated EIPs are often used as a stimulus for economic diversification in the community or region where they are located.