Eco-Industrial Parks – An Opportunity for the Developing Countries to Achieve Sustainable Development

Eco-industrial parks are a form of industrial parks that seems to gain more and more interest in the developed and emerging countries. In the introduction, the paper presents the reasons that justify the presence of an eco-industrial park on a territory and continues stressing their main characteristics and their diversity. The authors try to explain which are the problems that can put off the development of an eco-industrial park, presenting not only the advantages but also the risks of eco-industrial parks for their members and for the hosting community. The paper underlines the strengths of this type of parks that may contribute to a sustainable development of developing countries, especially now, when industrial parks are rising all over their territory without taking into account the environmental impacts. The authors’ purpose is to emphasize the economic and environmental benefits for the community and for the firms located on their territory. As a final issue, the paper shows that for Romania the concept of eco-industrial park is new and almost unknown, a reason for the economists to approach it more often in their research.