Eco-Industrial Parks and Application of Corporate Environmental Management Information System in China

The EIP definition proposed by the Indigo Development Team in 1993 has been widely accepted, which is “An eco-industrial park or estate is a community of manufacturing and service businesses located together on a common property” (Lowe, 2001). Cote & Hall (1995) suggested that an eco-industrial park, an industrial system could conserve natural and economic resources, reduce costs and debts incurred by production, materials, energy, insurance and handling, promote operation efficiency and quality, improve workers’ health and public image, and provide people with opportunities of making profit through utilization and sales of wastes. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development of USA (1996) identified an EIP as combination of the market community for effective cooperation and resources sharing (information, raw materials, water, energy, infrastructure and natural environment) and the industrial system for exchange of raw materials and energy. In the Guideline for Planning of Demonstration Eco-industrial Parks (on trial) promulgated by the former State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) of China in 2003, an EIP is defined as a new type of industrial absTraCT