Trend watch: industrial symbiosis & waste-to-value in 2026

The waste-to-fuel technology market will reach $2.4 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 30.7%, driven by corporate ESG goals that are transforming industrial waste streams from disposal costs into revenue-generating feedstocks (ResearchAndMarkets, 2025).

Industrial symbiosis—the practice of exchanging materials, energy, and by-products between co-located or networked facilities—represents one of the highest-impact circular economy strategies available to sustainability leads. Unlike end-of-pipe recycling, industrial symbiosis intervenes upstream, designing waste out of industrial systems while creating economic value from by-product streams. In 2026, emerging standards for traceability and disclosure (particularly the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive—CSRD) are reshaping buyer requirements, creating both compliance obligations and competitive differentiation opportunities for organizations that operationalize symbiotic networks.

Why It Matters

Industrial symbiosis addresses the fundamental inefficiency of linear industrial systems: globally, only 7.2% of materials are cycled back into productive use (Circle Economy, 2024). The remaining 92.8% represents either waste disposal costs or unrealized feedstock value. For sustainability leads managing Scope 3 emissions, waste represents a double burden—disposal emissions and foregone embodied carbon savings from virgin material displacement.

The economic case is compelling. Major public waste companies spent $10.9 billion on acquisitions in 2024, with renewable natural gas (RNG) from landfill gas representing the fastest-growing value stream (Waste Dive, 2024). Waste Management (WM) completed five new RNG facilities in 2024 and operates 16 third-party facilities; Republic Services has 45 landfill-gas-to-RNG projects through its Archaea Energy joint venture with BP. These investments reflect recognition that waste streams contain recoverable energy and material value that exceeds disposal revenue.

For CSRD compliance, industrial symbiosis creates auditable material flows that demonstrate circular economy contribution. The European Industrial Symbiosis Hubs initiative (IS2H4C), a €23.5 million EU-funded program launched in 2024, is developing standardized measurement and reporting frameworks that will likely inform disclosure requirements. Organizations establishing symbiotic relationships now will have the data infrastructure and operational experience to meet emerging requirements.

Key Concepts

Industrial Symbiosis refers to inter-organizational exchanges where one facility's waste, by-product, or excess resource becomes another's input. The Kalundborg Eco-Industrial Park in Denmark—operating since 1972—remains the archetypal example: a power plant provides steam to a refinery and district heating; gypsum from flue gas desulfurization supplies a wallboard manufacturer; fish farm wastewater fertilizes agricultural land. These exchanges reduce virgin input requirements, eliminate waste disposal, and create revenue from by-product sales.

Waste-to-Value encompasses technologies and business models that convert waste streams into marketable products. Categories include: waste-to-energy (incineration with energy recovery); waste-to-fuel (RNG from landfill gas or anaerobic digestion; pyrolysis and gasification for synthetic fuels); waste-to-feedstock (recycled materials displacing virgin inputs); and waste-to-product (industrial by-products sold directly).

CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) requires large EU companies and non-EU companies with significant EU revenue to report on environmental impacts including resource use, circular economy contributions, and waste management. Reporting begins in 2025 for the largest companies, with phased implementation through 2028. Industrial symbiosis arrangements create documented material flows that demonstrate compliance with circular economy disclosure requirements.

KPI	2024 Baseline	Best-in-Class	Measurement Approach
Industrial Symbiosis Index (material exchanges/facility)	1-2	8-12	Count of unique exchange relationships
Waste Diversion Rate (from landfill)	50-60%	90%+	Mass basis excluding hazardous
By-product Revenue (% of operating costs)	0-2%	5-10%	Revenue from by-product sales
RNG Production (from organic waste)	0.5 MMBtu/ton	1.2+ MMBtu/ton	Energy yield per ton feedstock
CAPEX Payback (symbiosis infrastructure)	5-8 years	3-4 years	Including avoided disposal costs

What's Working

Renewable Natural Gas from Waste

RNG production from landfill gas and anaerobic digestion of organic waste represents the most commercially mature waste-to-value pathway. Waga Energy reported 67% year-over-year revenue growth in 2024, with 30 Wagabox units operational globally—79% of new construction in the United States. Divert and Enbridge launched a $1 billion joint venture for food waste anaerobic digestion RNG production. Aemetis sold $7.7 million in IRA tax credits from its RNG operations in 2024.

The business model works: RNG qualifies for Renewable Fuel Standard credits (RINs) in the U.S. and Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates in the EU, creating revenue streams that often exceed natural gas commodity value by 200-400%. This regulatory support transforms waste liability into asset value.

European Industrial Symbiosis Hubs

The IS2H4C project (2024-2028) coordinates €23.5 million across four demonstration hubs: Hub Twente (Netherlands), Basque Hub (Spain), Industriepark Höchst (Germany), and Izmir-Manisa Hub (Turkey). Led by the University of Twente with Fraunhofer UMSICHT as technology partner, the project develops carbon capture, electrolysis, methanol synthesis, and CO₂-to-chemicals pathways within industrial cluster contexts.

Industriepark Höchst demonstrates mature industrial symbiosis at scale: over 90 companies share infrastructure including combined heat and power, wastewater treatment, and chemical utilities. This concentration enables exchanges that would be uneconomic at standalone facilities.

Digital Waste Tracking and Exchange Platforms

Digital platforms are reducing transaction costs for symbiotic exchanges. The UK's digital waste tracking system transitioned from voluntary to mandatory in 2025, creating standardized data that enables exchange identification. Platforms including upvalue and Excess Materials Exchange match waste producers with potential users, reducing search costs that previously limited symbiosis to co-located facilities.

IoT monitoring enables real-time by-product quality tracking—critical for applications where inconsistent feedstock quality previously prevented exchange. The HUB-CEIS project in Portugal (Phase 1 launching 2026) explicitly incorporates IoT-based monitoring for forest biomass waste-to-energy symbiotic networks.

What Isn't Working

Fragmentation and Coordination Challenges

Research identifies 23 distinct barriers to industrial symbiosis spanning technical, economic, legal, and social categories (Sustainability MDPI, 2024). Trust-building and stakeholder coordination remain persistent challenges: symbiotic exchanges require disclosure of waste stream composition and production schedules that organizations may consider proprietary. Without facilitation platforms or industrial cluster governance, establishing new relationships is time-consuming.

The IS2H4C project explicitly addresses this through "hubs for circularity" that provide coordination infrastructure—but scaling beyond demonstration projects requires institutionalized support that most regions lack.

Permitting and Regulatory Classification

Waste regulations designed for disposal often create barriers for exchange. Materials classified as "waste" trigger handling, transport, and processing requirements that may not be appropriate for by-products with consistent quality and established end-uses. The EU's End-of-Waste criteria provide pathways for reclassification, but procedures are jurisdiction-specific and time-consuming.

In the U.S., state-level variation in beneficial use determinations creates compliance complexity for companies operating across jurisdictions. A by-product exchange permitted in one state may require waste handling licenses in another.

Scale Mismatch and Infrastructure Gaps

Industrial symbiosis often requires capital investment for material processing, storage, and transport infrastructure that neither exchange partner can justify independently. The chicken-and-egg dynamic—investment needs committed exchange partners; partners need infrastructure certainty—slows network formation.

Emerging markets face particular challenges: while EM waste-to-value opportunities are substantial, technical capacity for complex symbiosis implementation is limited. The Swisscontact "Waste to Value" project in Laos, for example, focuses on basic recycling value chain support rather than industrial symbiosis—reflecting appropriate sequencing but also the development gap.

Key Players

Established Leaders

Veolia Environnement operates integrated waste, water, and energy services globally with industrial symbiosis capabilities including material recovery, waste-to-energy, and by-product processing. Revenue exceeds €40 billion annually.

Waste Management Inc. is the largest North American waste company ($20+ billion revenue), with growing RNG production and recycling operations. Acquisition of Stericycle ($7.2 billion in 2024) expands healthcare waste-to-value capabilities.

Republic Services operates 45 landfill-gas-to-RNG projects through the Archaea Energy partnership and maintains a $1 billion acquisition budget for 2025, signaling continued consolidation.

Kalundborg Symbiosis (Denmark) operates the world's longest-running industrial symbiosis network with 35+ exchange relationships among 12 participating companies including Novo Nordisk, Ørsted, and Equinor. The model demonstrates long-term stability and economic value creation.

Emerging Startups

Waga Energy deploys modular Wagabox technology that upgrades landfill gas to pipeline-quality RNG without flaring or venting. Rapid deployment model enables smaller landfills to capture value previously accessible only at scale.

Synthica broke ground on its first anaerobic digestion facility in Ohio in 2024, applying advanced biogas processing technology to organic waste streams.

INERATEC develops modular Power-to-Liquid facilities that convert hydrogen and CO₂ into e-fuels—enabling waste carbon capture integration with fuel production in industrial symbiosis contexts.

Key Investors & Funders

Breakthrough Energy Ventures invests in waste-to-value technologies including anaerobic digestion and waste gasification companies aligned with hard-to-abate sector decarbonization.

Kinderhook Industries and Macquarie Asset Management provide private equity backing for waste company acquisitions, recognizing RNG and recycling value creation opportunities.

EPA Historic Grant Funding (U.S.) supports organics recycling infrastructure including composting and anaerobic digestion facilities that enable waste-to-value pathways.

Horizon Europe funds collaborative industrial symbiosis research including the IS2H4C program, with priority focus on circular economy demonstrators.

Examples

Kalundborg Eco-Industrial Park (Denmark): This network of 12 companies executes 35+ symbiotic exchanges including steam, water, gypsum, sulfur, fly ash, and biomass. Novo Nordisk receives steam from Ørsted's power plant; Gyproc receives gypsum from flue gas desulfurization; agricultural operations receive treated wastewater nutrients. The system has operated since 1972, demonstrating long-term stability. Economic analysis indicates participating companies save millions of euros annually through reduced input costs and waste disposal elimination while collectively reducing CO₂ emissions by 635,000 tons annually.
Republic Services-Archaea Energy Joint Venture: This partnership operates 45 landfill-gas-to-RNG projects across the United States, converting methane that would otherwise be flared into pipeline-quality renewable natural gas. Revenue comes from RNG sales plus Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits under the Renewable Fuel Standard. Republic invested $98 million in Lightning Renewables in 2024 to expand biogas production capacity, demonstrating major waste company commitment to waste-to-value business models.
HUB-CEIS Forest Biomass Hub (Portugal): This €23 million project in Fundão creates a rural industrial symbiosis network centered on a forest biomass waste-to-energy plant. Planned outputs include 130 GWh/year electricity, 2,500 tons/year ash for agriculture and construction, and 1,000 tons/year slag. Phase 2 (2027-2030) adds green hydrogen production. The hub model demonstrates industrial symbiosis applicability beyond traditional heavy-industry contexts, creating 60 direct jobs and reducing 120 kt CO₂/year.

Action Checklist

Map organizational waste and by-product streams by volume, composition, and variability—identify exchange candidates
Assess co-located and regional facilities for complementary input needs that could absorb waste streams
Evaluate RNG production potential from organic waste streams—model economics including RIN credits and utility gas cost savings
Develop CSRD-compliant reporting infrastructure for material flows and circular economy contributions
Engage with regional industrial symbiosis initiatives, eco-industrial park developments, or circular economy clusters
Establish internal governance for by-product quality management—consistent quality is prerequisite for exchange relationships

FAQ

Q: How does industrial symbiosis relate to CSRD disclosure requirements? A: CSRD requires disclosure on resource inflows, outflows, and circular economy contributions. Industrial symbiosis exchanges create documented material flows that demonstrate circular economy performance: waste diversion from landfill, virgin material displacement, and by-product revenue. Organizations with established symbiotic relationships will have the data infrastructure to meet disclosure requirements; those without will need to build reporting capability.

Q: What is the business case for waste-to-RNG projects? A: RNG from landfill gas or anaerobic digestion typically qualifies for regulatory credits (RINs in the U.S., RTFCs in Europe) that significantly exceed natural gas commodity value. A project producing RNG at $4/MMBtu natural gas equivalent may generate $15-25/MMBtu in combined gas sales plus credits. CAPEX payback periods of 3-5 years are common, with 15-20 year project lifetimes generating substantial returns.

Q: What are the main barriers to establishing new symbiotic exchanges? A: Key barriers include: information asymmetry (potential partners don't know each other's waste streams); transaction costs (legal agreements, quality specifications, logistics); regulatory complexity (waste classification, permitting); and trust (disclosure of production schedules and compositions). Facilitation platforms, industrial cluster governance, and standardized exchange frameworks reduce these barriers.

Q: How does industrial symbiosis differ from recycling? A: Recycling typically involves collection, processing, and reprocessing of post-consumer materials into secondary feedstocks. Industrial symbiosis involves direct exchange of industrial by-products, waste heat, water, or excess capacity between facilities—often without the processing steps required for post-consumer recycling. Symbiosis intervenes earlier in material flows and often involves energy and water as well as materials.

Q: What role do digital platforms play in scaling industrial symbiosis? A: Digital platforms reduce search and matching costs by cataloging available waste streams and input needs across facilities. Real-time quality monitoring via IoT enables exchanges that require consistent feedstock specifications. Digital waste tracking (mandatory in UK from 2025) creates standardized data that enables exchange identification. Platforms like upvalue and Excess Materials Exchange are creating marketplaces that extend symbiosis beyond co-located facilities.

Sources

ResearchAndMarkets: "Waste-to-Fuel Technology Industry Research Report 2025" (June 2025)
Waste Dive: "Major public waste companies spent nearly $11B on M&A in 2024" (January 2025)
Fraunhofer UMSICHT: "Hubs for the circular economy" (2024)
MDPI Sustainability: "Exploring Industrial Symbiotic Networks: Challenges, Opportunities, and Lessons for Future Implementations" (2024)
Swisscontact: "Waste to Value Project - Laos" (2024)
Circle Economy: "Circularity Gap Report 2024"
Waste Dive: "Waste companies report RNG progress" (2024)