Glossary

Integrated biosystems connect different food production activities with other operations such as
waste treatment and fuel generation.

Integrated biosystems treat production and consumption as a continuous closed loop system where outputs of one operation become inputs into another, thus reusing resources and minimising environmental impact.

Industrial symbiosis means the interaction between different industrial plants, grouped in districts or at a distance useful to make the operation feasible, used in order to maximize the reuse of resources, normally considered waste and optimizing knowledge and skills between companies.

Resources:

• Cos’è la simbiosi industriale e in cosa consiste il nuovo modello distrettuale | Sfridoo

• Come innovare con la Simbiosi Industriale | Sfrido

An Industrial Waste is a waste resulting from industrial production processes.

These wastes require their own management and disposal process, due to their dangerousness, difficulties in disposal or potential negative environmental impact.

There are two major distinctions between Industrial Waste: hazardous and non-hazardous and comparable and not comparable.

• I rifiuti speciali e il loro valore: i numeri | Sfridoo

ISO 14040 is an international standard that provides guidelines for life cycle assessment (LCA) of products and services.

The standard describes the principles and requirements for carrying out a life cycle analysis and establishes the procedures for the environmental impact assessment.

Life Cycle Analysis is a methodology used to assess the environmental impact of a product or service throughout its life cycle, from production to disposal.

ISO 14040 establishes the following principles for life cycle analysis:

• Definition of the objective and scope of the analysis;

• Product or service life cycle analysis, identifying life cycle stages and related environmental information;

• Environmental impact assessment, identifying environmental impacts and assessing their severity;

• Interpretation of the results, evaluating the results of the analysis and identifying opportunities for improvement.

The use of ISO 14040 provides useful information to improve the sustainability of products and services and to promote the adoption of sustainable practices in industry.

Industrial ecology is an interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the design and optimization of industrial systems in order to minimize environmental impact.

The main objective of industrial ecology is to create sustainable production systems that minimize the consumption of natural resources, waste production and pollution.

In practice, industrial ecology seeks to create a virtuous cycle in which one company’s waste becomes a resource for another, so as to reduce waste production and pressure on the environment.