Resource Recovery Parks

Case Studies

Eco-Industrial Parks

RR parks evolved from eco-industrial parks (eco-parks), a major development in the U.S. and around the world. Eco-parks focus on environmental management issues and stress the synergistic use of wastes from one company as resources for another in the park.

Eco-parks are one of the major initiatives of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), Eco-Efficiency Task Force. The PCSD funded planning efforts at four sites (Baltimore, Md.; Brownsville, Tex; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Port Charles, Va.) to speed the implementation of the concept in the United States. Localities are in varying stages of planning and implementation.

In its landmark 1996 report, Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and a Healthy Environment, the PCSD recommended that "Federal and state agencies assist communities that want to create eco-industrial parks...[as] models of industrial efficiency, cooperation, and environmental responsibility."

PCSD defined an eco-park as a group of businesses that work together and with the community to efficiently share resources (materials, water, energy, infrastructure, natural habitat, and information), enhance economic prosperity, and improve the environment.

A community, a local government, a nonprofit organization, or a business can initiate eco-parks, but their success often depends on broad support and collaboration.

In its 1997 report, The Road to Sustainable Development: A Snapshot of Activities in the United States, the PCSD highlighted three general models of eco-parks:

• Zero-emissions eco-park, in which a group of businesses are colocated and work together to reduce or eliminate emissions and wastes.
• Virtual eco-park, in which businesses are geographically separate but work together to minimize their impact on the environment.
• Eco-development, in which nonindustrial establishments apply the principles of industrial ecology.

Industrial ecology is the study of a closed loop in which resources and energy flow into production processes. Excess materials go back into the loop so that little or no waste is generated. Consumer products flow back into production loops through recycling to recover resources. Ideally, the loops are closed within a factory or among industries in a region.

This newly evolving area of economic development is beginning to be tested in practice. It has potential to link economic development, environmental protection, and social equity in communities throughout the United States.

Examples of Eco-Parks

The following examples of eco-parks are based on summaries provided in the PCSD 1997 Report, The Road to Sustainable Development: A Snapshot of Activities in the United States.

Northampton County, Virginia. An example of the first type of eco-park is the Port of Cape Charles Sustainable Technologies Industrial Park, located in Eastville, Northampton County, Virginia. Cape Charles is in the Chesapeake Bay coastal region. The area serves as a critical flyway for migrating birds, with some of the highest bird counts on the whole eastern shore. In addition to its natural features, the area has a rich cultural and historic heritage, characterized by Native American archeological sites and historic homes.

The community, as part of a comprehensive Sustainable Development Action Strategy, is designing the Port of Cape Charles eco-park. If successful, the facility will create local jobs and provide protection for the area’s natural and cultural resources.

The eco-park will provide for water recycling among the resident companies by means of a used-water collection system, a water recovery facility, and a recycled-water distribution system. In addition, a technical panel will analyze and determine whether other companies within the park can use the by-products of existing and proposed companies.

Construction on the eco-park began in October 1996, with funding from local, regional, State, and federal sources. The first tenant will be Solar Building Systems Inc. The Northampton County Department of Sustainable Economic Development/Joint Industrial Development Authority is managing the project. Initial efforts have focused on recruiting compatible companies and on developing effective management for the park as an industrial ecosystem. The local community is enthusiastic and committed to the project, and it will be a key to the park’s future success.

Brownsville, Texas. An example of the second type of eco-park (a "virtual" eco-park) is a project in Brownsville, Texas. Brownsville is located on the southern tip of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley and is often referred to as a city "on the border, by the sea." It has a rich natural environment and is considered to be one of the three top bird-watching sites in the United States. At the same time, the city has some of the most serious environmental problems in the northern hemisphere and is struggling to address its high poverty and unemployment rates.

Local and state government officials have been the primary drivers behind the development of an eco-park in this border region. Clearly if the region’s industrial growth is to continue, the nature of that development must change to protect both human health and the environment.

As a virtual eco-park, the Brownsville project takes a regional approach to exchanging waste materials and by-products. This approach is sometimes referred to as regional "industrial symbiosis." The project could eventually include a group of businesses that are geographically located together, but colocation is not the driving force behind the project at this time. As currently envisioned, the project will include not only industrial facilities but also small businesses and the agricultural sector.

Planning for the Brownsville project has focused on identifying firms that could benefit from participating in regional industrial symbiosis. Project planners have developed a database of companies in Brownsville and in the neighboring city of Matamoros, Mexico. They are analyzing it to identify potential materials exchanges among these industries and/or new companies.

The Texas Department of Commerce and the Brownsville community have provided initial funding, and project leaders are working to secure long-term support. State officials will be working closely with project leaders to ensure that permitting procedures do not become a barrier to development.

After adding cost-based data to the database, project planners will develop a marketing plan to evaluate and recruit participants. They plan to educate and involve the local residents in implementing the project. The project holds great promise for improving the lives of the people of Brownsville.

Burlington, Vermont. An example of the third type of eco-park (eco-development) is the Riverside Eco-Park in Burlington, Vermont. This project will create an agricultural-industrial park in an urban setting that will:

1. Generate electricity using biomass technologies that use readily available resources (e.g., wood chips).
2. Use the waste heat generated by the power plant to support the greenhouse production of fish and horticultural products.
3. Use biologically-based “living systems” to digest liquid organic wastes (which are common in the food processing industry) to purify water and create high strength fertilizers.
4. Recycle and compost the area’s waste foodstuffs and yard debris to replenish local soils, increase agricultural production, and support value-added organic food industries. All of these emerging technologies are being developed with the ultimate goal of transferring them to other industries and communities.

This project is expected to have several positive results, including reducing the waste heat that is released into the air and water, improving soil conditions and water quality, and creating sustainable jobs for the local people. A feasibility study that examined the inputs, outflows, and costs of the biomass energy systems and the living systems led to the conclusion that combining the two systems could be economically and environmentally beneficial. The next steps will be to prepare engineering and cost analyses of the linked systems.

A Community Development Block Grant, the Burlington Electric Department, the Department of Public Works, and Cornell University are providing support. Project leaders have applied to the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy for funding.

The leaders have also recruited a number of organizations and companies to participate in the first demonstration project. They plan to bring in additional partners as the strengths and weaknesses of the project become evident. Project leaders have developed an aggressive five-year plan. They expect to transfer this eco-development model to other sites and to the development of commercially viable spinoff industries.

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