Episode 8 Elaine Kerr – industrial symbiosis

[00:00] We talk a little bit about Elaine’s background, and how she got involved in Northern Ireland’s industrial symbiosis programme.

Industrial Symbiosis in Northern Ireland

[04:18] Elaine tells us about the programme which delivered benefits for businesses in the first three months.  She explains how it has become a key enabler for businesses across Northern Ireland and is supported by Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI), the Economic Development Agency for Northern Ireland.

[06:43]  Elaine explains more about industrial symbiosis, and how the International Synergies approach works in practice.  Put simply, it’s ‘speed dating’ for resources.  Skilled, experienced facilitators often start with where the company is ‘itching’, but always check the end-to-end process for other opportunities.  They use innovative approaches, finding ways to manoeuvre around problems and barriers.  They will often find ways to both improve resource efficiency and reduce waste, helping businesses save money, secure future resources, create local jobs and much more.

We touch on International Synergies’ resource matching database and how new artificial intelligence developments are enhancing this.

[13:29] We discuss the way to create local resource ‘ecosystems’, including a case study on the re-use of post-industrial PVC, which was so successful it started to use post-consumer PVC as well.

The Blue Planet – transforming attitudes

[18:00] Elaine talks about the shift in awareness and attitudes, helped by David Attenborough’s TV programmes on waste plastic and other human-caused issues affecting oceans worldwide.  She feels people and businesses are much more open now, looking for opportunities to do something better, for business, society and our living planet.  Organisations are seeing productivity and environmental compliance as complementary, and Catherine agrees that seeing waste as a resource, a ‘food’ for another industrial process (or nature) helps you then think about how you could extract the highest value from it, rather than paying to dispose of it.   Companies are starting to think more about risks, and looking at how they can use recycled or redundant materials to replace finite, virgin resources.

Entrepreneurs and social enterprises tapping into industrial symbiosis

[22:23] Young entrepreneurs are actively looking to use materials that are considered ‘redundant’ by another company or industry, and Elaine describes a local start-up that upcycles lorry tarpaulins and offcuts from life-raft production into high-end Yoga and activity bags.

[24:03] Social enterprises in Northern Ireland are shifting their focus, creating value from waste resources so they can become financially self-reliant (instead of depending on external grants, donations and so on).  By making products from redundant materials, they are creating new jobs and upskilling local disadvantaged people who gain confidence and new skills.  This is another example of how industrial symbiosis can create social and local value, as well as reducing pollution and ecosystem damage.

The circular economy is picking up speed

[27:48] Elaine feels the circular economy ‘wheel’ is picking up speed, and she is noticing lots of behavioural change, especially for plastics.  People are thinking about potential new by-products, not ‘waste’.  A key to this is how we frame our language:  for example, we should talk about ‘wasted resources’ or ‘under-utilised resources’, not just ‘waste’.

The world’s longest-running industrial symbiosis programme

[30:33] Starting back in 2007, the International Synergies project in Northern Irelan, is now the longest-running industrial symbiosis programme in the world.  Using an example of redistributing sleeping bags to the homeless, Elaine explains how their highly-experienced facilitators use their extensive knowledge, contacts and research methods to create value from redundant materials and products.

[33:39] Elaine tells us about how industrial symbiosis is helping to solve a problem faced by lots of towns and cities around the world – what to do with waste coffee grounds!  Catherine recommends Circle Economy’s Circle Lab circular economy database, now with over 2000 examples including some from Catherine’s database.  It includes all the examples from the Circular Economy Club global mapping week in 2018.

[38:13] We talk about International Synergies’ plans for the future, expanding beyond the (impressive) current list of 30 projects on five continents. Elaine sees industrial symbiosis as the lubricating ‘oil’ that makes the circular economy work, facilitating the introductions, ideas, and innovations that make the whole system come together.