Industrial symbiosis is the practice of bringing together companies from different sectors in order to identify business opportunities that maintain the value of the resources used in a perpetual productive cycle and eliminate waste. This strategy has come to be seen as an effective way to apply the concepts of the circular economy to the industrial fabric.

Municipalities have a fundamental role to play in promoting this practice, which requires an initial investment and the right conditions to facilitate it. There are currently a number of industrial symbiosis projects in progress in the Barcelona metropolitan area, in localities such as Gavà, Viladecans, el Prat de Llobregat and Barberà del Vallès, as well as one led by the Zona Franca Consortium and another in the Bon Pastor neighbourhood of Barcelona. Symbiosis programmes are in their planning stages in Sant Feliu, Castellbisbal and Badalona. In other municipalities such as Sabadell and Sant Quirze del Vallès, there are also similar programmes in progress.

Currently, there is a need for a methodology to coordinate the various industrial symbiosis and circular economy projects being implemented in the industrial fabric in the metropolitan area. This methodology should have a dual objective. First, it should assist the municipalities in their industrial symbiosis projects. Second, it should help the localities make a more efficient use of public resources. Additionally, it should coordinate all the initiatives in the region by gathering all the data, information and knowledge that emerges from the various individual projects and ensuring that opportunities for further action are not lost.

The Agency has designed a metropolitan area industrial symbiosis programme which provides guidelines to coordinate industrial symbiosis projects and offers local governments and companies the tools and services they need to store the data, information and knowledge generated within these projects.