Industrial symbiosis creates an interconnected network which strives to mimic the functioning of ecological systems, within which energy and materials  cycle  continually  with no waste products produced. This process serves to reduce the environmental footprint of the industries involved. Virgin raw materials are required  to a lesser degree, and the need for landfill waste disposal is reduced. It also allows value to be  created from materials that would otherwise be discarded and so the materials remain  economically valuable for longer than in traditional industrial systems.

Making industrial symbiosis happen depends on many governance and policy factors. Market conditions for by-products and reused materials are often not favourable and specific materials are strongly regulated. Symbiotic initiative originate in two ways:

• as self-organised activities,
• as managed processes. 

Self-organised activities usually emerge in industrial clusters and in a limited geographical perimeter. Managed (and especially facilitated networks) networks can have a larger geographic scope. A report from the EC – Cooperation fostering industrial symbiosis distinguishes between two types of managed IS initiatives: 

• facilitated networks: a coordinating entity promotes the development of the network and works with existing companies to identify IS opportunities.
• planned networks: within legally and territorially well-defined areas (i.e. eco-industrial parks), where businesses are attracted to shared infrastructures and services. Often times these planned networks are developed in eco-industrial parks. 

Industrial Symbiosis synergies can be implemented in any type of regions or area, depending of the types of resources transacted. Overall, Industrial Symbiosis activity has been found to be common in manufacturing clusters across Europe, whether as self-organised or as facilitated networks. Clusters show high opportunities for facilitating resource efficiency improvements and industrial symbiosis in companies (Cluster Observatory, 2015).

“Facilitating industrial symbiosis by developing an industry-led reporting and certification system, and enabling the implementation of industrial symbiosis” is part of the new Circular Economy Action Plan of the European Commission.