The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP), will provide new opportunities by turning unwanted outputs and by-products from businesses into raw materials for other businesses.
 The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme aims to create cyclical resource flows |
The NISP aims to create cyclical resource flows throughout the UK to maximise resource efficiency and decrease the amount of waste going to landfill.
As well as materials, it will allow companies to share knowledge, contacts and sustainable development practices including energy use, water use, logistics, facilities and even human resources.
The programme has been funded by 334,090 from the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme via the Onyx Environmental Trust. The national programme will run on a regional basis, and as well as first regional launch in Scotland, the programme has now been launched in the Yorkshire and Humberside region, with 250,000 extra support from Yorkshire Forward.
Commenting on the new programme, BCSD deputy chief executive Peter Laybourne said: “Support for industrial symbiosis is gaining momentum each day. The recent government response to the Strategy Unit report Waste Not, Want Not specifically mentioned the benefits of an industrial symbiosis programme on a UK wide basis. The report also went on to say that industrial symbiosis may provide a viable alternative to waste exchanges, with the government committing to extra research in this area.”
Relationship
The NISP has already meant that Huntsman Tioxide, a titanium oxide pigment manufacturer with production facilities in the Humberside region has been able to link up with Knauf Drywal, a leading manufacturer of plasterboard. The relationship means that Huntsman are now providing Knauf with gypsum, a by-product of the titanium oxide pigment manufacturing process, as a raw material for plasterboard production.
Margaret Cobbold, general manager of the Onyx Environmental Trust explained: “Optimising resources and minimising waste are the fundamental principles behind the development of the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme. The Humberside scheme will help to forge mutually beneficial relationships to improve the use of waste or co-products as resources for manufacture and industry. It is vital for companies to be receptive to the concept of industrial symbiosis in order to improve the national sustainable development programme.”
The project has been welcomed by the Confederation of British Industry as an innovative way to improve business productivity while providing environmental benefits.
Michael Roberts, business environment director at the CBI said: “Smarter use of industrial and other by-products can help improve business productivity and reduce waste. The CBI welcomes initiatives such as the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme as an innovative way of finding practical solutions to this challenge, delivered regionally. By encouraging companies and sectors to work more closely with one another, through a database that helps identify possible resource sharing opportunities, NISP has the potential to generate real economic and environmental benefits.”
For more information on the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme, visit the NISP website.
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