Forest products in TR 81 level 2 region industrial symbiosis potential of the industry and a sustainable network design: Filyos valley project example

Industrial Symbiosis refers to the phenomenon of symbiosis integrated into the industry, developed from the concept of "symbiosis", which has an important place in biology. Designs inspired by nature provide significant added value to industrial systems. These designs, which ensure sustainability in economic and social terms, especially in terms of environment, increase the share of the industrial sector in the economic development of the regions. When the sectoral distribution of investments in TR 81 NUTS 2 Region is analyzed, it is possible to say that the industry has diversified over primary fossil resources such as mining, iron-steel, forest products industry. The best modeling areas of industrial symbiosis are these regions where sectoral diversity exists. In TR 81 NUTS 2 Region, sectoral and market diversity is increasing day by day with existing and new investments. This increase is very suitable for the spirit of industrial symbiosis. When the sectors in the Filyos Valley Project, which is being built as a rising value in the region, are examined, it is known that the diversity will increase much more. Turkey's first Mega Industrial Zone is the output of the "Filyos Valley Project", which was brought to the agenda during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Sultan Abdulhamid II and planned to be realized by the 12th and current President Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN. The project, which is described as the northern gateway of the country to the world, is planned to be completed in line with the 2023 vision. At the latest point, with the discovery of 58 billion m3 of new natural gas in the Çaycuma-1 field, the total reserve in the region has increased to 710 billion m3 . Its economic value has been determined to be worth one trillion dollars in international markets. In these days when we are facing a global climate crisis, the parameters have changed in terms of pollution and warming. This project, which allows us to get out of the economic turbulence and focus on the future, is also very important in terms of compliance with international regulators such as the European Green Deal and the sustainability goals of the United Nations. Although there are many industrial parks in the world, most of them cannot be characterized as eco-industrial parks due to the absence or inadequacy of symbiotic associations between the industries located in the relevant industrial zones. This study presents the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the Filyos Valley Project and proposes a useful "Mega-Eco- Industrial Park" model. Especially when it is evaluated with its environmental dimension, a closed circular economy model and sustainable industrial symbiosis network design modeling has been studied to improve the investment outputs that turn into reactions. With the original Filyos Mega-Eco Park design, a circularity function is provided to the mega-industrial zone. With this model, highly inclusive issues such as on-site sorting of wastes for the use of other industries, intra-enterprise and intra-organizational exchange, exchange between co-located enterprises, exchange between provinces, exchange between virtually organized enterprises in the relevant region, etc. are designed. With the design, the current environmental and sectoral situation of the region has been analyzed and revealed, and it has been supported by the studies of the infrastructure capacity suitability of public institutions and organizations in the region for urban symbiosis potential / industrial symbiosis. In the light of all this information, a region- specific industrial symbiosis network design was made. The network designed for the implementation and sustainability of industrial symbiosis practices was identified using a database (MAESTRI) developed by the Cambridge University, Center for Industrial Sustainability. Symbiotic associations developed in the light of scientific resources such as databases, articles, etc. also create opportunities for waste exchanges. On the other hand, due to the high cost of relocating the large industries in the region, the mega-eco park was included in the network design by linking them with virtual ties in order to continue production in connection with the region. Enabling sharing between industries organized virtually with the phenomenon of symbiosis and physically existing industries is another difference of equal importance in this study. Although many projects have started to be carried out in different regions across the country, no structure or organization has yet been established and authorized to take charge in the management of industrial symbiosis applications at both national and local level. University, public and industry harmony is a very important issue in industrial symbiosis studies. Therefore, it would be much more correct to act within joint responsibility. With this study, a design model of a committee that can be authorized for execution has been created in order to ensure the sustainability of industrial symbiosis practices in TR 81 NUTS 2 Region. In addition, with the social network analysis developed from the forest products industry sector, the social aspect of the practices was not ignored and reflected in the mega-eco park design studies. In this context, the model put forward in line with the opinions and suggestions of the stakeholders of the region with a participatory approach is a first of its kind. The results of the study are expected to contribute to the determination of regional/local strategies and national strategies and policies, as well as the development of a road map for Turkey. Firstly, the aim, importance and scope of the study, assumptions and constraints, background, motivation, and thesis outline were established in the introduction. Due to the inclusive study approach of industrial symbiosis and the lack of standardization of its methodology, there are not enough studies in the literature. For this reason, a very comprehensive literature study was conducted on the analysis methods used in industrial symbiosis applications. The study focuses on the analysis methods used in industrial symbiosis applications and examines the concept within the framework of circular economy and sustainability, such as life cycle analysis, life cycle cost analysis, social life cycle, input output analysis, material and material flow analysis. Industrial symbiosis method applications are analyzed in depth and their strengths and weaknesses are emphasized. In addition, this chapter aims to provide comprehensive detailed information to guide businessmen, researchers, academicians or scientists who are interested in the analysis methods used in industrial symbiosis applications. The third section, the theoretical framework section, presents empirical data from the provinces that make up the TR 81 Level 2 Region. Data on the current state of the Filyos Valley Project, which is the focal point of the study, expectations and future activities are shared. In addition to all these, in order to evaluate the prominent forest products industry in the region in detail, periodical sectoral and export figures and capacity utilization are statistically analyzed. It was also supported by a SWOT analysis study to evaluate the forest products industry innovation and infrastructure. In the fourth section, materials and methods, the research protocol for the study was defined at a basic level, how the current situation analysis was conducted, which statistical tests were used to analyze the data, the use of a sustainable network design method, the infrastructure of the committee design modeling and how the social network analysis was created, and the method of the Filyos Mega-Eco Park design, which is the focus of the study, were presented. The fifth part of the study is the findings and discussion section. In this section, firstly, TR 81 NUTS 2 Region is presented by analyzing the current situation in environmental and sectoral dimensions. In the following process, the results of the "Urban Symbiosis Potential and Infrastructure Capacity Suitability Measurement Survey for Industrial Symbiosis" applied to 88 public institutions and organizations in the region were examined. The results of the "Industrial Symbiosis Potential Measurement Questionnaire" applied to 272 medium and large-scale forest products industry enterprises in the region were also analyzed. In the light of all these data, a sustainable network design, committee design modeling and social network analysis, and finally an original design of Filyos Mega-Eco Park are presented in the findings and review section. In the last part, the conclusion-suggestions section, syntheses are made about the findings and implications for future research are compiled and presented within the scope of the study.