1. Advancing the Circular Economy through Industrial Symbiosis
Tracy Casavant Program Director
Timo Makinen
National Lead Practitioner

2. What is Industrial Symbiosis?
Mutually beneficial business collaboration to create circular or shared resource flows
Waste-to-input is most common
other physical or operations-based resource collaborations e.g., shared lab space, research facilities, utilities, warehousing, etc.
O&G hose mftr
Insulation waste
Teddy bear mftr

3. Industrial Symbiosis: Advancing the Circular Economy
Industrial Symbiosis includes
Waste as Resource and
Returning By-products,
two of five key business models underpinning a circular economy
“Circular Advantage Innovative Business Models and Technologies to Create Value in a World without Limits to Growth”, Accenture, 2015

4. The Evolution of Industrial Symbiosis
Serendipity
Audits & Studies, Waste Exchanges
Facilitated
Serendipity / Passive Engagement

5. Is this the best forum for connecting businesses
Is this the best forum for connecting businesses? Can you provide a bit more detail on the elements of and support delivered through the program? For example, workshops (how do they work?  What is the main expected outcome? How do select which businesses to bring together at a workshop) What kinds of support do the practitioners provide outside the workshops (e.g. business case development, regulation/legal advice, links to consultants, etc.)   Is this informed by past successful EIN initiatives? In other words, how did businesses connect to one another in the past, and does this build upon those methods?
Workshop Process
 NISP uses a facilitated process to bring about industrial symbiosis, engaging businesses from the outset via workshops that are facilitated by locally-based practitioners trained according to international NISP protocol. Based on the NISP model, the workshop agenda would generally be as follows, using a start time of 8:00 AM:
8:00
Networking, Registration, Coffee
8:30
Opening address (standard overview presentation tailored to local context)
9:00
Guest speaker(s) (usually local business champions already practicing industrial symbiosis; government supporters, etc.)
9:20
Detailed workshop instructions
9:30
Coffee break
9:50
Haves, Wants & Synergies Working session facilitated according to international protocol
License includes all training materials, handouts, etc.
Frequently, local business champions also receive training ahead of the workshop to provide facilitation support at the working tables.
11:30
Networking, lunch. During this time, workshop facilitators (i.e., the local practitioners) review working session outcomes.
12:30
Closing Message: Reinforce key messages and collective value; remind businesses they can opt-out of sharing data in the workshop outcome mini-report; close with key highlights from the working session

6. NISP Characteristics that Create Success
Regional scale
Facilitated
Experienced practitioners to shepherd implementation
All sectors, all sizes
Synergie® software
The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme: The Pathway To A Low Carbon Sustainable Economy report (available online) presents some additional insights with respect to the NISP model. For example, the report notes that there were 60 practitioners across 13 regions, giving some indication of the scale of the operation. Furthermore, the report notes that in 5 years, 12,500 businesses were engaged, the majority of which were surprisingly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The report also introduces the role and importance of regional Program Advisory Committees comprising mainly business representatives. Lastly, the report underscores the diverse resource streams and business sectors that the program engaged.

8. EU Waste Framework Directive Amendments 2018
"Waste management in the [EU] should be improved and transformed into sustainable material management … promoting the principles of the circular economy … in a way that preserves resources and closes loops”
"In order to promote sustainable use of resources and industrial symbiosis, Member States should take appropriate measures to facilitate the recognition as a by-product of a substance or an object resulting from a production process the primary aim of which is not the production of that substance … the Commission should be empowered to adopt implementing acts in order to establish detailed criteria … prioritising replicable practices of industrial symbiosis.“
Official Journal of the EU L150 Vol 61, 14 June 2018

9. 2 2 6 NISP® CANADA – 18 MONTH PILOT October 2017 – March 2019 Regions
BC Lower Mainland
AB Greater Edmonton
Practitioners
Per Region
Workshops
Per Region

10. NISP® Canada: Funders and Supporters

11. NISP® Canada Process

12. NISP® Works to Avoid This
Discarded pallets, City of Edmonton Waste Management Centre

13. Before & After with NISP® Canada
Spent paper rolls
Tidy recycled textiles

14. RE-PURPOSE YOUR WASTES AS RESOURCES
GENERATE NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
BE PART OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY
METRO EDM OUTCOMES
$5.9M econ benefit to businesses
11,000 tonnes CO2e saved
251,000 tonnes waste diverted
METRO VAN OUTCOMES
$375,000 econ benefit to businesses
19,000 tonnes CO2e saved
2,700 tonnes waste diverted 12
WORKSHOPS
350+
PARTICIPANTS
3,500
IDEAS
1,920
RESOURCES
Industrial Symbiosis connects industries and creates business opportunities.
Canada's National Industrial Symbiosis Program builds business-to-business connections that identify opportunities for waste re-purposing and other forms of resource collaboration, thereby creating economic, environmental and social benefits to businesses and surrounding communities.

15. Material Resources by Category
(Item Count)
Have
Total
400
Want
200
Aggregate
Ag & Food
Chemicals
Glass
Metals
Plastics
Wood

16. NISP® Canada Worked! Other Lessons
No new regulations but businesses saved $ and took eco-action Some attended more than 1 workshop or drove hundreds of km
All sectors, all sizes, diverse resources
Canadians know each other – global lead in referrals
Biggest barrier is ….. Funding, even though $1M investment catalysed millions

17. NISP® Canada is a program of the Vancouver-based not-for-profit
Light House
Green Buildings
Eco-Industrial Parks
Industrial Symbiosis
Advancing green bld and technologies. Evolved to 3 areas