A guiding framework for new eco-industrial park

ABSTRACT

Industrial activities and waste are the main sources of air, water, soil pollution, depletion of natural resources, global warming and climatic changes, acid rain, biodiversity degradation worldwide. Egypt is suffering from industrial pollution and moving towards zero pollution goal represents a great challenge. Recently, Egypt is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The notion of eco-industrial park (EIP) has been revitalized recently to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources, and help to achieve sustainable development in the industrial sector. The objective of this research is to suggest a framework to guide the development of eco-industrial parks in Egypt. The research applies the inductive method to deduce the suggested framework. The main international and national eco-industrial park guidelines as well as international case studies are used to conclude the main categories and criteria as well as the relationship between criteria. In order to investigate the proposed guiding framework, a local case study was chosen to be studied as a sample of Egyptian eco-industrial park. In conclusion, the application of the suggested framework helped highlighting the covered and uncovered areas in the sample local case study as a step to build on in the Egyptian context.

KEYWORDS:

• Eco industrial park
• sustainable industrial zones
• sustainability
• global warming
• Climate change
• Sustainable Development Goals

Introduction

Industrial activities are the main sources of environmental pollution worldwide. The emissions and waste of industrial activities have a significant impact on air, water, soil, depletion of natural resources, global warming and climatic changes, acid rain, biodiversity degradation. Despite the efforts done to reduce industrial pollution, the industry still continues to pollute and moving toward zero pollution in this sector is an ambitious challenge [1] [2,3].

Egypt, like other countries, is suffering from industrial pollution. Most industries dump their waste into the sea and the Nile which are heavily polluted by industrial waste [4]. The environmental degradation resulting from air pollution costs Egypt about 5% of the annual GNP [4]. The industrial sector is responsible for around 15% of CO₂ emissions [5].

Industrial pollution has many causes including the lack of policies and mandatory regulations and legislations that control industrial activities pollution; unplanned industrial activities growth; absence of appropriate waste management system and the lack of adoption of new technologies [3,6,7].

Egypt is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, and progress has been made under many indicators since 2015. According to the Sustainable Development Report 2021, the country has received an SDG Index Score of 68.6 percent and is ranked eighty-second among 165 countries [8].

The application of the eco-industrial parks can help to achieve all Sustainable Development Goals (to various extents), especially SDG number 9. It has the objective to build resilient infrastructure, encourage inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and promote innovation [9].

According to the Egypt’s 2021 Voluntary National Review, 17 industrial complexes have been established in 15 governorates nationwide providing 43,000 new direct job opportunities for young people. Obviously, few of those industrial complexes are on their way to become eco industrial parks such as the Rubiky Leather Project which aims to bring all leather tanneries in one place to become an integrated city for leather manufacturing [10,11].

What is an eco-industrial park?

Eco-industrial park is one methodology revitalized during the 1992 Earth Summit [12]. (EIP) is an industrial park in which businesses cooperate with each other and with the local community to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources (such as information, materials, water, energy, infrastructure, and natural resources), and help to achieve sustainable development, with the intention of increasing economic gains and improving environmental quality [13]. Eco-industrial parks promote resource efficiency and circular economy practices.

The cooperation of different stakeholders in an eco-industrial park to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources, and help to achieve sustainable development is known as ‘industrial symbiosis’. Industrial symbiosis is the physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products between companies in an eco-industrial park. Industrial symbiosis is considered a very efficient means to mitigate climate change and improve competitiveness [14,15].

An eco-industrial park (called also sustainable industrial parks, low carbon zones, green industrial areas) can be defined as ‘a community of manufacturing and service businesses located together on a common property. Those manufactures and businesses have the objective to enhance environmental, economic, and social performance through collaboration in managing environmental and resource issues’. [16].

Why eco-industrial park?

There are many benefits for EIP as follows:

- Economic benefits: Employment creation through skills upgrading and training as well as technology transfer; cost savings due to reductions in waste disposal, energy consumption and resources.

- Environmental benefits: Reduction of pollution levels, more efficient use of resources such as preservation and protection of biodiversity; reduction, reuse and recycling of waste; mitigating climate change. Additionally, the environmental benefits due to the improvement of the management of chemical and hazardous substances in an eco-industrial park can lead to significant environmental benefits.

- Social benefits: Eco-industrial parks often involve the creation of a social infrastructure. Examples include vocational training centers, skills development training as well as broader community services [9].

Finally, the eco-industrial park can be a result of the transformation of an existing industrial park; or can be developed in previously used site (brownfields development); or can be built in a new industrial site development. This research will focus on the development of a new eco-industrial park either in a previously used site or in a new industrial site [17].

There have been many attempts to develop guidelines and standards for eco-industrial park implementation some of which are:

• UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) developed EIP tools and framework that can be applied and adapted to all existing industrial parks.

• UNIDO collaborated with the World Bank and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) to promote the global development of standardized approaches for the implementation of eco-industrial parks [14].

• In addition, the Finish and Chinese guidelines that can be applied to the newly developed EIP. The Finish guidelines are based on the work done by the network of eco-industrial parks across Finland that was organized under the Circular Economy Centre project (2018–2019) funded by SITRA (an accountable and independent future-oriented fund in Finland, acts as a think tank, promoter of experiments and operating models and a catalyst for co-operation.)

Egypt is starting to take some steps toward the development of eco-industrial parks. In April 2021 the UNIDO and Switzerland signed a new project document to support Egypt with the development of eco-industrial parks. The project will follow a new integrated approach, focusing on reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions, while attracting investments and creating job opportunities in Egypt’s industrial zones [18]. The Industrial Development Group (IDG) in Egypt announced the launch of the first eco-sustainable park in New Alamein in July 2020, with an area of 2.7sq km. This park follows the SIA (Sustainable Industrial Areas) guidelines that makes it sustainable; uses resources efficiently; and maximizes the shared value created for stakeholders [19].

International guidelines for new EIP

It is a summary of some of the international guidelines for the process of establishing EIP, outlining the elements needed to start a successful sustainable industrial development.

These guidelines were structured in the form of categories and criteria underneath each category, which in the end creates a framework that will be applied to the Egyptian case study.

The following paragraphs explain in detail each category with its criteria [7,9,20–22], [23–25]:

Site selection category

There is a mutual influence between the industrial site and community, the urban context it is located in. To select a successful site for sustainable industrial development, the following criteria should be considered:

Essential basic criteria

• The basic information that affects the selection of the industrial site are: Size, industrial area type, industrial sector and required service facilities.

• Suitable site must be selected with available consideration of: Energy networks, raw materials, regional accessibility, proximity to transportation and work force in the region.

• There are several types of sites: Brownfield sites, new development sites or sites outside the urban area. Brownfield sites preferred in case the rest of the elements are equal.

• Water resources location is important, to define a project site

Natural risk consideration criteria

The EIP site selection needs to consider risks related to:

Biodiversity losses and to degraded ecosystems and to climate change, in addition to findings of the evaluation of natural catastrophes.

Rules & regulation criteria

Consideration of laws, city development plans, regulations and permit that are specific to country, governorates and local building codes.

Future growth criteria

Future growth of the park should be taken into consideration if lands are available.

Management category

There should be an independent unit for EIP management responsible for introducing companies to each other and working together without giving up their independence in the market to create good synergies. The Management unit has many responsibilities such as [20].

Sharing utilities & facilities management criteria

Since the EIP concept is built on symbiosis and sharing facilities, therefore the management unit’s responsibilities should include the following:

• The management of sharing waste, water and energy.

• Achieving symbiosis between factories through managing the output of factories and how it will be used as input for another factory.

• Sharing information, learning from each other and facilitating dialogue between companies.

Marketing criteria

Marketing of the EIP is important to develop it successfully, it includes:

• Land marketing: to attract potential tenants to the industrial park and provide information to the community encouraging them.

• Product marketing.

The types of marketing strategies are: direct mail campaigns, web-based marketing, workshops, seminars and trade shows, direct marketing of services in high demand or other incentives for location.

Partners and companies criteria

The EIP needs committed companies, due to their role in ensuring sufficient financial resources as well as adequate and continuous streams of by-product, also build trust between organizations and maintain the park’s network. EIP also functions best when it presents a mix of large and small companies operating in the same area.

It is important to attract start-ups, which are often established as a result of academic research projects and offer technological solutions and this is the responsibility of the management unit that should ensure the existence of such a variety at the EIP.

Risk management criteria

The management unit of the EIP needs to consider operation risks and natural risks, as follows:

● Manage all emergencies which result from industrial activities such as fire and release of hazardous substances.

● Get ready for all sorts of natural disasters.

● Gather and analyze all data concerning potential risks by connecting with the local disaster risk management plans.

● Create a central response unit to monitor emergency lines and inter-linkages to respective government institutions.

EIP performance indicators management

The EIP future performance is based on a set of performance indicators that reflect both the individual companies’ improvement and the improvement of the industrial park as a whole (e.g. discharge of wastewater, generation of solid waste, greenhouse gas emissions).

The EIP team should develop their own set of performance indicators under the guidance of experienced experts and test it with the available data.

Environmental category

The climate change adaptation and mitigation should be considered in order to achieve sustainability in the EIP. Since reduction in greenhouse gases requires increase in energy and resource efficiency; therefore, long-term operability should be maintained under changing climate conditions. All of which could be realized through the following criteria:

Industrial symbiosis network

Determining the types of industries and their material flows inside the industrial area, and identify possibilities of sharing products, by-products, besides industrial outputs as water, waste (chemical or solid), or energy.

Shared utilities & facilities

EIP seeks to reduce overhead costs through shared facilities, materials, and energy, so, it should commonly contract services such as hazardous waste removal or trash collection.

● Inside the EIP, the possibilities of sharing products, by-products, as well as services or utilities should be identified.

● The transport concept should interlink the park traffic with its surroundings so that passengers and goods can safely and comfortably enter and exit the park, in addition to improve resource efficiency and environmental protection, also the EIP management should provide car sharing options, electric vehicles and natural gas buses.

Industrial building performance criteria

Environmental performance of buildings could be evaluated through rating systems that are specialized in evaluating industrial buildings and warehouses, for example the LEED for Warehouses and Distribution Centers, the Edge for industrial buildings (light industry and warehouse), DGNB for logistics and production buildings, and the upcoming paragraphs are a brief explanation for each rating system:

• Edge for industrial buildings (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies): EDGE is a green building software application for evaluating green buildings based on local and global standards. The objective of Edge is the use of green measures to reduce operational expenses and carbon emissions. To achieve the EDGE standard, a building must demonstrate savings in operational energy consumption, water use, and embodied energy in materials.

• LEED for Warehouses and Distribution Centers (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design): LEED is a rating system designed to provide healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving green buildings. LEED certification is achieved by earning points from credits that address carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health and indoor environmental quality.

• LEED rating system is available for many building types. This rating system is designed for facilities used to store goods, manufactured products, merchandise, raw materials, or personal belongings, like self-storage. The LEED for Warehouses and Distribution Centers combines nine sections: Integrative Process, Location and Transportation, Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Material and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Innovation, Regional Priority.

• DGNB for logistics and production buildings (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen): The DGNB System is used to evaluate environmental, economic, sociocultural/functional, technical and process quality of projects across the building life cycle. This tool evaluates the sustainability of projects based on the following criteria: Effects on the global and local environment, Resource consumption and waste generation, Lifecycle costs, Economic development, Health, comfort and user satisfaction, Functionality/Design for all, Technical quality, Planning quality, Construction quality assurance, Site quality. DGNB for industrial buildings addresses logistics and production buildings. Logistics buildings are defined as buildings used in the distribution and delivery of goods. This type is also used to certify high-bay warehouses. Production buildings are any building in which merchandise or consumer goods are manufactured from raw materials or primary products using energy and labor. In addition, DGNB was issued for industrial sites that are considered as a planning tool.

By analyzing the three rating systems: LEED, DGNB and EDGE, five main categories could be concluded based on their importance in the Egyptian context: sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy efficiency; material and resources; indoor environmental quality. Those categories are divided into a set of criteria as shown in Table 1, and those set of criteria were chosen because they represented the main common criteria that were repeated in the three rating systems.

Table 1. Categories and criteria of industrial building performance.

Sustainable Sites

Reduced Parking Footprint

Heat Island Reduction

Light pollution reduction/Emissions control/Noise pollution reduction

Water efficiency

Water-efficient Faucets for all Bathrooms

Water Metering “Smart Meters for Water”

Energy efficiency

Building envelope: Window-to-Wall Ratio, Reflective roof and exterior walls, External shading devices, Insulation of roof and exterior walls, Low-E glass”

Optimize energy performance: Air Infiltration of Envelope, Natural Ventilation, Cooling System Efficiency, Variable Speed Drives, Economizers, Efficient Lighting for Internal Areas, Lighting Controls, Sub-meters for Cooling Systems, Power Factor Corrections,

Advanced Energy Metering “Smart Meters for Energy”

Renewable Energy Production “Onsite Renewable Energy”

Material and resources

Flexibility and adaptability

Use of recycled building materials

Use of reused or salvaged building materials

Use of local building materials

Indoor Environmental Quality

Indoor Air Quality Assessment

Thermal Comfort

Interior Lighting

Daylight

Acoustic Performance

Source: authors.

Social category

As we’ve previously mentioned before, EIP often involves the creation of a social infrastructure as well; this could be achieved through the following criteria:

● Sharing facilities and services: medical services, shopping, banking facilities, recreational and sports services.

● Large industrial areas and in particular for mixed-use zones, the provision of sufficient accommodation for workers and employees within or close to the industrial area should be considered. EIP should ideally integrate the provision of affordability.

• Visitor’s facilities: accommodation for temporary visitors, hotels, conference halls, banks, etc. need to be considered.

• Educational and training institutions specialized to train apprentices and employees of the industry sectors.

International case studies

After reviewing the four main categories: site selection-management-environmental-social categories deducted from the international guidlines of EIP, the upcoming part of the research discusses and analyzes four international eco-industrial parks case studies which succeeded in implementing most of these categories.

The ecofactorij [26–28]

Basic Info

• Location: Netherlands – Apeldoorn.

• Type of EIP: new development.

• Developer: Municipality of Apeldoorn.

• Project size: 95 hectares.

• Industry type: manufacturing and logistics companies. There are many businesses, mainly logistics companies, that operate in Ecofactorij and it aims to attract more companies that share its vision of environmental awareness.

• Fund and incentives: discount on the ground lease in return for sustainable investments. There is a basic package of minimum conditions for companies locating in the industrial park. Points are only awarded for measures in what are known as the ‘plus package’. The score determines the size of the bonus a company can receive, which may entitle the company to a reduction of the land price, a subsidy and/or priority in locating in the industrial park. The subsidy or discount on the land price is only granted once it has been established that the condition has been met.

• Ownership: Allocation in an one-off perpetual ground lease; the municipality will make the transfer to the Association after the site has been allocated in full; compulsory membership for project owners of the Association.

Site selection category

Located near the city of Apeldoorn in the province of Gelderland and it is easily accessible by two main highways.

Environmental category

Shared facilities and utilities criteria are

office for the Park Manager and the committee (information center Ecofactorij), site maintenance including winter maintenance, green areas, fiber-optic network, private electricity network, construction of smart grid (private 10kv electricity grid), energy generation (solar panels; biomass for heating, wind turbines), heat pumps with aquifer (heat and cold storage), 24/7 video surveillance, fuel stations with alternative fuels (compressed natural gas, CO₂ for transportation cooling), carpooling at individual company level and battery charging points for electric cars and bikes.

This has resulted in the fact that 80% of the companies and buildings are equipped with heat pumps and 20% with bio-pellet heating; rainwater management (reuse rainwater for cleaning purposes).

Sustainable production process (symbiosis) criteria

The slower development of the eco-industrial park as well as the availability of one dominant activity which is the logistic distribution centers (no mixed types of industrial activities), those two factors make the application of symbiosis very difficult and the sustainable and renewable solutions become individually.

The application of Green buildings features criteria

Green building features for the Information center Ecofactorij are: adiabatic cooling (cooling by water evaporation instead of compression), full use of daylight, good insulation, maximum production of renewable energy such as solar PV and biomass for heating, smart lighting system, natural insulation materials such as wool-flax-wood, cradle-to-cradle carpet, FSC certified wood, salt filled wall and floor for buffering heat and cold (Phase Change Materials), smart sunscreen design, low water consumption appliances, totally recycled materials and the provision of artificial lighting for each task and activity in the interior space. Green building features for the Grolleman cold store are: This freezing house has no gas and operates entirely on the heat released from the freezing process. Rainwater is collected and used as process water with water from a drilled well. This water is stored after treatment in huge storage tanks where it is heated by the energy released from the freezing process continuously.

Management category

• This park is designed to create good synergies between companies’ resources, but the park attracted mainly the logistic distribution centers which made the environmental solutions become individually and the opportunities of sharing resources decreased. The selection of business is done based on a quality control application which asks about job opportunities; use of land; accessibility; visual quality; energy; water; soil.

• Potential partners’ criteria: The foundation of Cooperative Park Management Association. The process of park development was prepared by officials without involving stakeholders (companies, civil organizations). This top-down process had a negative effect on support for the decisions of the local authority in Apeldoorn.

Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) [17,29,30]

Basic info

• Location: Southeast of Tianjin, China

• Type of EIP: new development.

• Developer: National Demonstration Eco-Industrial Parks jointly by the Ministries of Environmental Protection, Commerce, and Science and Technology.

• Project size: total built-up area of TEDA reached 4500 hectares, of which the industrial zone accounted for 3400 hectares and the residential area for approximately 1100 hectares.

• Industry type: TEDA has a mix of industries: science industries, microelectronic industries, and chemical industries. TEDA has a diversified industrial structure, with prominent sectors such as electronics, automobile, biotechnology, petrochemical, and modern service.

• Fund and incentives: measures for exempting sewage disposal fees to encourage companies to improve their wastewater treatment and to use recycled water. Provide eco-management labels as a certification to companies that reduce, recycle and/or treat solid waste. Provide incentive mechanisms to mobilize companies to disclose environmental information and join the industrial symbiosis (IS) network. Fund is provided to promote the usage of new water sources, by-product utilization and energy-saving projects. Provide funds for environmental projects and energy-saving projects.

• Ownership: data not available.

Site selection category

Located in the southeast of Tianjin, about 45 km away from the city, and near Tianjin harbor. There is a rapid mass transit system. TEDA also has its own port, airport, railway, and highway network.

Environmental category

• Shared facilities/utilities criteria are: waste management system, environmental impact assessment of new investment projects, environmental monitoring of existing key water and air pollution sources, total pollutant emission control, co-generation power station, water treatment plant, electroplating wastewater treatment facility, water reclamation plant, waste-to-energy plant, seawater desalination plant, E-waste recycling hub, and groundwater extraction to supply as hot water for companies.

• Sustainable production process (symbiosis) criteria: A series of industrial symbiosis activities involving energy and water cascading and solid waste exchanges gradually emerged among the four pillar industries (electronics, machinery and automobile, biomedicine, and food & beverage sectors). The recycling of condensate from large steam users, the desalination facility uses the low-pressure steam from the neighboring thermal power station, the thermal power plant consumes treated water as boiler supply water, sold the food scraps as animal feed to neighboring farms. In this park the symbiotic exchange is divided into two categories: internal-internal (I-I) and internal-external (I-E) type.

• Green buildings features’ criteria: measures taken to find new water sources, minimize wastes, and save energy.

Management category

TEDA is developed and governed as a separate city with a population more than 400,000 and includes both industrial and commercial/residential areas. TEDA has three main entities responsible for managing, provide services, supervising, set regulations in the eco-industrial park. The Center for Sustainable Industrial Development (CSID) in cooperation with Nankai University helps in the provision of environmental services for the Eco-Industrial Park. The TEDA Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB), an independent environmental regulatory body, responsible for installing new environmental programs. TEDA’s Administrative Committee (AC) who is in charge of administrative management, the drafting and supervising local regulations, the auditing of investment projects, the planning of infrastructures and public utilities, and setting infrastructure charges.

• Potential partners’ criteria: TEDA has established partnerships with various countries, regions, and organizations to promote trade, investment, and cooperation.

Social category

The eco-industrial park has a residential area for an employed population more than 400,000 that is governed with the industrial park as a separate city. TEDA has various facilities and services for businesses and residents.

Kokkola industrial park [31]

Basic info

• Location: Finland- Ykspihlaja

• Type of EIP: new development

• Developer: Kokkola Industrial Park’s Association

• Project size: 700 hectares

• Industry type: Kokkola has a mix of industries: zinc plant - Sulfuric acid plant - Hydrogen production- Natural ingredients for cosmetics industry - cobalt chemicals and fine powders- Mining and battery chemical - oil refining- limestone industry- calcium chloride plant- Air gas plant- Carbon dioxide plant - Potassium sulfate plant. In the area, 19 industrial plants and over 60 service companies operate. In total there are more than 70 organizations and they employ 2400 people.

• Fund and incentives: data unavailable

• Ownership: Sitra: an accountable and independent future-oriented fund in Finland, acts as a think tank, promoter of experiments and operating models and a catalyst for co-operation.

Site selection category

The export industry of the park is supported by the location of Kokkola in the Kokkola Industrial Park. Kokkola is located by the main road and the rail network extends to the core of the Industrial Park. The Port of Kokkola has a 14 meters’ deep channel, ‘Rail Wagon Tippler Terminal’ (RWTT) as well as ‘All Weather Terminal’ (AWT) beside being 15 minutes away from the airport. Also, KIP is located 5 kilometers northwest from the city center.

Environmental category

• Shared facilities/utilities criteria:

  KIP has a wide range of commodities available for industry:

  Sea water, surface water, drinking water, deionized water, ammonia, argon, oxygen, steam, lime, district heating, compressed air, heavy fuel oil, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitrogen, hydrogen, and secure electricity supply.

• Sustainable production process (symbiosis) criteria:

In Kokkola Industrial Park circular economy’s and industry’s symbiosis has been common for decades. Saying ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ has been realized literally in the Park. Industrial companies in the Park implement the synergy between the company’s production process and the further processing of by-products arising therefrom. Thus, material and energy flows become more efficient and the amount of processed waste can be significantly reduced. New ways of thinking are constantly being considered to promote and implement more efficient circular economy. Kokkola Industrial Park is considered to be the pioneer of the circular economy in Finland and throughout Europe.

Management category

• KIP’s companies access several market areas in the world and the main reason behind this success is the industrial symbiosis.

• Potential partners’ aspect: The Association cooperates with local educational and research institutions regarding training and education matters. Now, there are 22 member companies in the Association.

ECO3 industrial park [32,33]

Basic info

• Location: Finland- Nokia city

• Type of EIP: new development

• Developer: The city of Nokia’s development company, Verte Oy

• Project size: 600 hectares

• Industry type: ECO3 has a mix of industries: organic fertilizers-biomass-recycled biowaste, paper and packaging-green asphalt- processing and refinery of soil materials, concrete, brick, asphalt, construction and demolition waste, as well as ash and metals-processing and recycling iron and metal scrap-processing of plastics, cardboard and paper-recycling rubber.

• Fund and incentives: data unavailable

• Ownership: data unavailable

Site selection category

ECO3 industrial park is connected to highway roads.

Environmental category

• Shared facilities/utilities criteria: biogas plant and waste treatment center

• Sustainable production process (symbiosis) criteria:

In the ECO3 area, side streams from trade, industry, construction, agriculture and forests are treated on an industrial scale. The cycle diagram describes the formation of value chains from side streams (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Diagram of the ECO3 concept [32].

The sewage sludge generated in the city of Nokia is processed into biogas in the ECO3 area. The biogas plant also accepts separately collected bio-waste from households in Pirkanmaa. The post-digestion produced from the biogas plant is primarily used as fertilizer and growing media. Ashes from industry are processed into earth building products. Animal fractions from agriculture are processed into organic fertilizers. Electrical and electronic waste and metals are processed into different types of fractions for reuse. Plastics and used tires are processed for reuse using different types of processes. Forest-based raw materials are utilized in heat production. Construction demolition materials and earth masses are sorted and their different fractions are processed to be reused, for example, for land construction. Paper and cardboard are baled into industrial raw materials. The waste treatment center receives waste and side streams from households and trade and industry for reuse.

Management category

• Potential partners’ aspect: Verte helps businesses find each other – and their place in the circular economy value chain. ECO3 area’s activities are paired with research: Natural Resources Institute LUKE- Tampere University-VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

Case studies results

From the analysis of the four case studies, it can be deduced that the site selection and the well-connected sites with common transportation and highways; the diversity of businesses activity types that promote the integration and increase the opportunities of sharing common services and resources; the good planning of shared services and facilities; the management and the provision of well-defined institutional framework are main elements that influence the success of an eco-industrial park. Regarding the symbiosis network, it depends mainly on the diversity of industrial activities. There are a number of EIP that succeeded to implement the symbiosis network and the product or by-product of a company becomes an input for another company, other EIP cannot establish this network because there is one predominant type of industry in the park which reduces the opportunity of by-product exchanges. Thus, it is important to cluster companies and connect them to a common infrastructure of heat, waste heat, energy, water and/or residual substance.

New eco-industrial park proposed framework

Based on the different EIP definitions, International Guidelines for New EIP, and international EIP case studies analysis, as well as the Egyptian Guideline for Sustainable Industrial Areas [34], a framework is concluded to plan and design a new EIP. The framework consists of 4 main categories: EIP Site selection, EIP Management, EIP Environmental services and performance, EIP Social services. Every topic contains criteria that help to guide the planning and design phase for a new EIP establishment (Figure 2).

Figure 2. New eco-industrial park proposed framework (authors).

Proposed framework application

“e² alamein” industrial park

In order to evaluate the applicability of the EIP proposed framework, the research selected ‘e² Alamein’, the first attempt for an eco-sustainable industrial hub and center of operations in Egypt off the Mediterranean coast. This EIP aims to improve the economic, social, and environmental performance of its tenants [35]. The research studied and analyzed ‘e² Alamein’ with the same structure and categories as the previous case studies.

Basic info

• Location: New Alamein city, North Coast.

• Type of EIP: New development.

• Developer: IDG (Industrial Development Group) affiliated to Samcrete Egypt.

• Project size: 2.7 Km² (2.7 million sqm)

• Industry type: Employs sustainable business and industrial practices. More than 3000 minimum land plot size, around 400 m2, suitable for factories and warehouses. In addition, there are built factories, empty land, and stores.

• Fund and incentives:

• Ownership: the plot areas are sold

Site Selection category: Strategically located in one of Egypt’s key fourth generation cities and futuristic trade hubs. Connects to a network of roads, high speed rail (HSR), marine ports (115 km from Port of Alexandria as well as Matrouh Port), and airports (55 km from Alamein International Airport) that provide strategic logistical advantages. Moreover, it is 250 km far from Cairo (capital of Egypt). It provides easy access to New Alamein City’s services and benefits, which are expected to include government services, accommodations, and other facilities. It is also close to public and private mega-farming activities.

Environmental category

• Shared facilities and utilities criteria: 24/7 maintenance, water management, transportation network, fire brigade and water networks, waste management system, provide LED lamp and daylight control in outdoor lighting fixtures, fiber optics network, shared transportation, facilitator unit, minimize number of lighted fixture at night (after 12 am), high efficient electricity plant, rainwater collection

• Sustainable production process (symbiosis) criteria: chilled water and steam from electricity plants.

• The application of Green buildings features criteria: not applied.

Management category

• Potential partners’ criteria: The National Academy for Science and Skills (NASS) that is an affiliate of IDG, and provides local industries generally, and the IDG tenants specifically, with skilled workforce and capacity building solutions to serve growth, encourage development and add value.

• Social category: Social services provided such as: banks, food court, childcare services, recreational facilities, vocational training, hotels/guest services, conference/meeting spaces, healthcare and ambulance units.

Evaluation of “e² alamein” industrial park by the proposed framework

According to information gathered for ‘e² Alamein’ Industrial Park, all the previously mentioned criteria were analyzed and studied in order to apply the proposed framework and evaluate its applicability. Figure 3 shows the criteria that exist in the case study and applicable in the framework while the criteria that did not exist in the case study were highlighted in gray.

Figure 3. Proposed framework application.

Discussion

Since the aim of the research is to propose a framework as a guideline for planning, designing and managing new EIP in Egypt in general. A sample of the new attempts of EIP in Egypt ‘e2 Alamein’ has been investigated using this proposed framework and reached the following evaluation: Site selection category: as for the site selection, it is based on the country’s regional planning which leaves no space for the developers to select differently.

Management category: all the criteria of the management category are fulfilled except for applying the natural risk management criterion and the EIP performance indicator criterion.

Environmental category: industrial symbiosis network still unfulfilled except for symbiosis between energy output and input where the steam and chilled water coming from the electric plant is reused again as energy resources in several factories.

Shared utilities and facilities that are mentioned above in detail are mostly fulfilled, but there is no research center or environmental measurements and analysis services provided. Regarding industrial building performance, there is no regulation that forces factories to be certified as green buildings so there is still no factory building certified as green building.

Social category: the criteria of the social category are mostly fulfilled except for the housing and school criteria that do not exist.

And so, it could be concluded from the above discussion that the suggested framework helped highlighting the covered and uncovered areas in the sample local case study.

Conclusion

The UNIDO in Egypt has started its trial of converting an existing Industrial Park into an Eco Industrial Park, but still no attempts were made to guide a new Industrial Park to become an EIP. This research targeted the new EIP and how to build from the beginning an EIP guided by the proposed framework which was deduced from the main EIP guidelines such as UNIDO and GIZ as well as the international case studies. Whereas the main guidelines help to conclude the main categories and criteria of the framework and the international case studies help to provide the relationship between the different criteria. A sample local precedent, e² Alamein in New Alamein city – North Coast, has been selected to investigate the framework and the case study as new EIP. An interview has been held to deduce the component of the case study. It could be concluded that the case study is mostly fulfilling the criteria of the main four categories of the suggested framework but there are still uncovered criteria. As a result of this investigation, the suggested framework is considered a successful attempt of a framework that could be an applicable guide for a new eco-industrial park.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).