Environmental experts aid groundbreaking North American law change

Birmingham-based SME International Synergies Limited (ISL) has contributes to a groundbreaking law on industrial symbiosis in North America.

ISL have been supporting businesses in the West Midlands to become more successful through profitable actions that make their businesses more circular since 2002.

The approach known as industrial symbiosis led to the creation of the UK 's National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in 2005.

Since then, ISL has exported its services to more than 40 countries around the world, winning Insider International Trade Award in 2015.

In 2018, industrial symbiosis was mandated as part of the waste management approaches of each EU member state (via the Waste Framework Directive).

ISL is currently offering free support to GBSLEP SMEs through the Birmingham and Solihull Industrial Symbiosis Programme (BASIS) in partnership with Birmingham City Council.

ISL is also exploring opportunities with the West Midlands Combined Authority to ramp up industrial symbiosis activities as part of its WM2041 Climate Strategy.

At the national level ISL 's NISP is cited in the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy from BEIS, and in Defra 's Waste Prevention Programme consultation.

This year ISL commenced work in their 40 country, Uzbekistan, with a World Bank Group project to decarbonize the Uzbekistan economy.

As a result of ISL 's export experience, various countries have included industrial symbiosis in law: as part of regional development plans in Turkey, and in the Efficient Process Law in Mexico City.

Most recently, Washington state (USA) passed industrial symbiosis into state law, the first US region to take such action.

Jointly, ISL and their partner NISP Canada hosted the first NISP- based IS workshop in Washington State.

The outcomes of this successful resource matching workshop were included as part of the report to the Washington State Department of Commerce that helped inform the crafting of SB 5345, the Washington (WA) state law providing support for IS projects in WA communities.

The Legislature intends to establish the program to:

• find ways of turning waste and by-products into valued resource inputs;
• reduce waste management costs; generate new business opportunities;
• increase the size and diversity of business networks;
• identify means of improving environmental performance;
• expand the regional circular economy;
• and drive innovation.

For more information on International Synergies Limited, creator of NISP, click here.