INTRODUCTION

  1.  The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) is an innovative business-led programme which delivers environmental, economic and social benefits across the UK. NISP's mission is to effect a long term cultural change in business to view all resources as an asset with a value which should not be wasted or discarded. NISP operates firmly within the business opportunity agenda, thus maximising on the benefits to business of industrial symbiosis.

  2.  By working across business sectors NISP members form partnerships to make maximum use of resources which would otherwise go to waste. NISP works at a local level through 12 regional offices, each having a Programme Advisory Group (PAG) drawn from local business. In England NISP is part of the BREW (Business Resource Efficiency and Waste) partnership managed by Defra and funded as part of the return of Landfill Tax to industry. Now in its third year of operation, NISP is delivered by International Synergies who also provide support internationally to Defra through the Sustainable Development Dialogues (SDD) in both China and Mexico. International Synergies has also undertaken Industrial Symbiosis work with the State of Illinois, Chicago and has recently been providing advice to the US Government.

  3.  Since its National launch in 2005 NISP has grown rapidly, and now has in excess of 8,500 industry members drawn from across the UK. NISP's holistic approach enables it to actively deal with all resources including water, energy, materials, logistics, assets, expertise etc. and by working successfully across the entire resource hierarchy NISP has demonstrated successfully that business opportunity can be realised through greater resource efficiency.

  4.  NISP remains the first and only Industrial Symbiosis (IS) initiative in the world to be operated on a national scale and its innovative and highly successful approach for effective synergy facilitation and industrial eco-innovation has attracted considerable attention, both in the UK and overseas. Cited as an exemplar programme by the European Commissions' Environmental Technologies Action Programme (ETAP), NISP has also received considerable interest for potential replication across Europe, the United States of America, China, Mexico, India, Brazil and Australia.

  5.  NISP has cost effectively delivered a wide range of outputs that significantly contribute towards a number of key government policy agendas. Apart from extensive environmental outputs, benefits have been generated in the areas of productivity, employment, regeneration and private sector investment. NISP is a positive net contributor to the Treasury (a result of additional tax paid by companies enjoying higher profits, new solutions creating business start-ups, and by taxes paid by those people whose jobs have been saved/created by the programme.) whilst also continuing to contribute to the balance of payments whereby imported virgin materials are replaced by UK supplied by-products.

  6.  Through its common sense industrial symbiosis approach to the better management and sustainable use of natural resources NISP has, between April 2005 and March 2007, already delivered:

—    engagement with over 8,500 industry members;

—    generated more than £99 million in additional industry sales;

—    saved over 5.4 million tonnes of virgin raw materials;

—    reduced industrial water use by over 2.5 million tonnes; and

—    diverted over 1.8 million tonnes of waste from landfill.

  7.  The programme has also delivered:  

—    actual costs saving to industry of over £71 million;

—    secured £66 million private capital investment in reprocessing & recycling facilities; and

—    reduced over 2 million tonnes of C02.

  8.  A feature of the Programme to date has been its ability to deliver proportionally more output for each unit input of funding. From an input of £9 million BREW funding over the first 24 months NISP has not only exceeded delivery on all contracted metrics and helped create over 1,360 jobs, but has also:

—    delivered a total economic value added (TEVA) of £117 million;

—    a net fiscal impact of over £10.3 million; and

—    net economic gross value added of £53 million to UK PLC.

  9.  In the current year 2007-8 NISP once again is confident of exceeding all targets. Due to the programme's impressive results and positive impact, NISP's terminology, commercial approach, business engagement model and efficacy are increasingly being emulated by other programmes in the UK.

BETTER DESIGN AND THE USE OF MATERIALS

What role can better design and materials play in minimising the creation of waste? Are there any barriers to how knowledge in this area can best be translated and applied?

  10.  Due the potentially long time involved between the conceptualisation of new designs and the creation of waste, NISP actively demonstrates that significantly greater and immediate benefits can be achieved by looking at process optimisation within the production cycle. Such improvements can and do provide both economic and environmental benefits by enabling the consideration of resource recovery of previously "wasted" resources. Such recovered material resources can then be used instead of virgin sources.

  11.  However material considerations are not the only "waste resources" and further consideration within "better design" should be given to cover all potential resources inc energy, water etc.

  12.  NISP is actively involved in supporting companies in overcoming barriers to resource recovery and efficiency. The programmes works in partnership with the Resource Efficiency Knowledge Transfer Network (RE-KTN) to enable the programme to stimulate both technology and process innovation within the UK knowledge base. A key aspect of the programme is the identification of significant amounts of products which could be diverted from the waste stream if a technological solution can be identified. A recent evaluation of NISP's completed synergies to date identified that over 70 per cent involved some form of process of technology innovation. 50 per cent of synergies completed to date involved the introduction of best practice and knowledge already being used in other industry sectors as a means of overcoming a barrier to waste minimisation and resource efficiency.

To what extent do product designers and engineers take into account the availability and the end of life impacts of raw materials?

  13.  The Programme sees that businesses are increasingly aware of the end of life impacts of their products and processes and are keen to engage with NISP to find novel solutions in this area. Increasingly companies are identifying with both the economic and environmental benefits of reincorporating material wastes back into their products and processes as part of closed loop systems. Often however consideration for most companies is driven more by regulatory than economic drives (ELV, Batteries directive etc). Some forward thinking companies and sectors are also increasingly starting to consider the integration of full life cycle impacts of their products.

  14.  NISP is actively stimulating such thinking within its growing membership and through numerous case study examples can demonstrate the resulting verified output benefits delivered as a result.

Are there any other gaps in knowledge and how are they being addressed?

  15.  NISP believes that there exists a significant gap in knowledge and understanding by companies across the UK about resource recovery potential. Such a knowledge gap also extends to technology advancements and process innovations that could enable potentially significant economic and environmental benefits to be achieved by their businesses. However, though engagement with programmes such as NISP, industry is increasingly becoming aware of the gains that can be achieved, often for very little process chance or initial investment.

  16.  NISP can also demonstrate that as industry is stimulated to make better use of recovered materials through commercial innovation and process improvement/optimisation, they can reduce their dependency on and overall consumption of key virgin resources.

BUSINESS FRAMEWORK

Does the current policy, regulatory and legal framework support and incentivise the development of better, more sustainable products and processes?

  17.  The increase in the Landfill Tax escalator and other legislative changes such as the two new rules which apply to non hazardous waste from October 30 2007, ie that liquid wastes are banned from landfill and that waste must be treated before it can be landfilled, have begun to change the way that waste is viewed. It is sufficient, at the moment, for business to separate out one material such as cardboard only and fulfil the pre-treatment requirements provided that a reasonable amount of the sorted or separated materials are not sent to landfill. Many small businesses do not have access to services that can segregate or take such materials unless a Local Authority provides a segregated trade waste service.

  18.  The Waste Strategy 2007 began the process of considering waste as a resource. It would be a considerable help if waste was always seen and referred to as a resource unless no other possible use can be made of the material.

  19.  Sustainable procurement requirements by the public sector could be a considerable stimulus/driver for the development of further sustainable products.

How is the framework communicated to businesses and what is the level of awareness and understanding among businesses?

  20.  Small businesses often lack knowledge and awareness of the legislation and their Duty of Care. An earlier survey by the BREW Centre for Local Authorities was recently supported by a NetRegs survey that showed that the majority of SMEs have a low level of awareness of their environmental impact and of their responsibilities and obligations.

  21.  NISP partnership with the Environment Agency has proven very successful and mutually beneficial not only to both NISP and the EA but also the industries to which both organisations interact. NISP have often found that clarification is needed of the legislation and have sometimes found that different interpretations have been made in different regions.

What other measures can promote a focus on waste reduction among businesses?

  22.  Working within the rapidly increasing membership base, NISP member businesses are continually exposed to new opportunities for synergistic collaboration. Such engagement is forecast to deliver significant output and NISP has projected super-proportionate benefits over the 2008-11 funding period of over 15 milion tonnes of landfill diversion and 10 million tonnes of virgin materials saved.

  23.  The business advisory services of, for example, the EA, RDAs, Business Link and trade associations, should be encouraged to both support and signpost businesses to appropriate environmental support as a core pillar of their business development advocacy. Resource efficiency and waste minimisation will only become a core activity if it is recognised as a commercial imperative and business opportunity as much as it is a social and environmental concern.

What lessons can business learn from international experience?

  24.  NISP is the world leader in utilising industrial symbiosis to help businesses realise resource efficiency and reduce waste. Cited as an exemplar programme to the EU, NISP practitioners work closely with member businesses to identify surplus resources which might otherwise be wasted (materials, energy and water) and to match them with businesses who can benefit from these. NISP has also received considerable interest for potential replication across Europe, the United States of America, China, Mexico, India, Brazil and Australia. NISP's holistic approach is also being advocated as part of the UK's Sustainable Development Dialogues (SDD) in both China and Mexico.

  25.  The separation of municipal from business waste is not the usual model found on the continent and certainly at a Local Authority level, NISP is aware that LA officers found visits to overseas operation of innovative waste treatments in Germany and Switzerland particularly useful in informing and supporting decisions on facilities to investigate for their authorities in the UK.

GOVERNMENT POLICY

What is and should be the role of Government in addressing the issue of waste reduction?

  26.  The Government has announced that it will be setting a target for business waste reduction.

  27.  More businesses are opening their doors to issues around environmental performance and resource efficiency. However, the Annual Small Business Survey carried out for the DTI's Small Business Service in 2005 showed that over half the businesses surveyed want government support but struggle to find out what is available. A recent NetRegs survey showed that most SMEs felt that good environmental practice was important but there was a fairly low level of awareness of legislation and that the smaller a business is, the lower its level of environmental awareness and the less likely it is to take action to address its environmental impact. This is the sector that, therefore, also has the most problems with waste disposal and pollution. The SME sector is most likely to approach Local Authorities as their first port of call for assistance. Various surveys have found that between 60—74 per cent of SMEs contact their Local Authority as a first port of call.

  28.  The recent letter from Defra to Chief Executives of Local Authorities drawing their attention to their obligations under Section 45(1)(b) of the EPA for commercial waste collection, brings some clarity but there remains some confusion over any potential impacts on LATS which requires clearer guidance.

  29.  Clarification has been issued on the subject of waste from schools, universities, hospitals and nursing homes which is to be considered as household waste in the future and not commercial waste. Some LAs have treated waste from these sources as commercial waste in the past and charged for the service or ensured that private companies collect and charge for the service.

  30.  The division between municipal and business waste has complicated the task of waste reduction and waste reuse, and hampered the message of resource efficiency. Purely household waste is estimated to comprise no more than 10 per cent of the waste stream to landfill. Whilst it is a particularly mixed and difficult area with a high biodegradable content—and therefore high methane generating content—attention must also address the wider business waste issue and the economic as well as the environmental impact of the waste of valuable resources.

  31.  Government and public bodies can play a key part in not only waste reduction but can also be a major driver to resource reuse through their procurement role. It is estimated that Local Authorities alone already spend:

—    £42 billion on external contracts;

—    £12 billion (17%) on constructing and maintaining buildings and roads; and

—    £3 billion (7%) on waste.

  32.  Construction materials, fittings and furniture can be chosen with whole life cycle impacts in mind and can drive the reuse and resource efficiency agenda by ensuring that, for instance, recycled aggregates are used in the foundations of buildings.

  33.  There is more that needs to be done to address the whole of the waste hierarchy and there is still more work needed on the clarification of protocols and the legislation on what is to be seen as a waste.

  34.  In addition to this there needs to be a shift towards whole life systems thinking, the interconnectivity of resource use by single organisation and throughout the life time of the materials and the framework that industrial ecology provides.

  35.  Under new government guidance, the RDAs are to be given a larger role in regional planning (Regional Spatial Strategies) as well as their existing responsibility for Regional Economic Strategies. They are also a key player in the guidance and signposting to be given to SMEs. By working with organisations such as NISP and the BREW Centre for Local Authorities they can also play a role in Regional Material Resource Strategies to ensure that the data NISP and the BREW Centre have is made available in a useable form, and built into Regional Spatial Strategies to ensure that adequate infrastructure is in place for the business community.

  36.  If the RDAs are to have a wider role with the abolition of Regional Assemblies there has to be closer working with LAs who are responsible for Local Development Frameworks and who operate or have an obligation for trade waste services. Accountability to Government for any increased role has to be clear.

How does government policy link up with European strategies and action plans?

  37.  NISP has already been cited as the Commissions' ETAP exemplar programme for potential replication across Europe. The Government's policy and NISP's activities are complimentary to both the EU thematic strategy on natural resources and the Directive of the European Parliament and Council on Waste. Similarly the actions are aligned with both the Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industry Policies as they relate to UK business, and a continued drive to improve resource efficiency.

  38.  NISP is committed to working closely with Government to "unlock" the challenges and opportunities associated with delivering existing resource efficiency and waste minimisation through sustainable consumption and production frameworks. Restructuring to deliver sustainable development through resource efficiency requires a new model, one that is more holistic and ecological where the productive economy is concerned. The analogy of materials, nutrients and energy flowing through natural ecosystems, with those moving through so-called "industrial ecosystems", is central to this new model.

  39.  However, lasting and substantive progress must look beyond any pre-occupation with short-term market manipulation measures to ensuring that life-cycle and industrial symbiosis thinking are sufficiently integrated within policy formulation. Consequently, together with full-life-cycle or "cradle to grave" thinking, we would also strongly recommend the important role that industrial symbiosis will increasingly need to play in the more sustainable management of natural resources.

What lessons can be learnt from other countries—within the EU and globally?

  40.  NISP remains the first and only industrial symbiosis (IS) initiative in the world to be operated on a national scale and its novel yet highly successful approach for effective synergy facilitation has attracted considerable international attention. Praised across the world, NISP has already been cited as the EU Commissions' ETAP exemplar programme with real potential for replication across Europe, whilst also being ranked 1st by the UK Government in its recent league table of Business Resource Efficiency funded programmes. Defra and DfID, together with counterparts from China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa have expressed interest in including both IS and NISP as part of Sustainable Development Dialogues being developed.

  41.  Due to the hugely successful results, the programme, its approach and terminology are therefore increasingly being emulated by other programmes in the market, both in the UK and internationally. NISP has also provided support and information to the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and recently visited the White House to promote Industrial Ecology.

  42.  In 2006 NISP hosted the third International Industrial Symbiosis Research Symposium with international delegates from many countries. This provided an opportunity to share research on Industrial Ecology and documentation was provided by Yale University in a report published this year.

SKILLS

To what extent are considerations of sustainable waste reduction part of broader industrial training courses?

  43.  It is appreciated that there were many training courses available for companies in the fields of waste management, energy efficiency, logistics, process optimisation etc., both from National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) or more formal CPD guided professional training schemes provided by the various professional institutions and organisations. However the consideration of sustainability is typically predicated from environmental implications and often the economics and commercial benefits are not illustrated nor clearly understood.

  44.  What such (environmental) sustainability training courses have in common is the focus on looking internally within the company or organisation at its activities and acting in isolation. Very little applied work has been undertaken for companies working in collaboration across a range of business resource efficiency issues. Similarly, courses associated with industrial ecology (an emerging field which seeks to remodel linear industrial systems so that they more closely resemble the more efficient, "closed-loop" workings of biological ecosystems) are typically confined to academia.

  45.  The significance of industrial ecology or industrial symbiosis training to individual companies, sectors, regions and nationally can be found in the benefits arising out of NISP. It is the belief of the NISP team that we have only just begun to scratch the surface of resource efficiency possibilities by this new approach. By formal training it is hoped that this type of thinking can penetrate UK industry much more quickly and bring about the above benefits to a wider range of companies and communities.

  46.  Provision of specific industrial symbiosis training is currently being developed (being accredited by CIWM) and is already aligned with the West Midlands RES and skill agenda for resource efficiency.

  47.  NISP is actively developing partnerships with universities, particularly at post graduate level. In particular at the University of Surrey Centre for Environmental Strategy, NISP is providing two Engineering Doctorate placements. PhDs are also underway in association with NISP at Boston University, USA, Swansea Business School, and Surrey and Aberdeen Universities.

  48.  Similarly, with NISP's active collaboration with the Environment Agency (specifically NetRegs) the programme is also working to meet the demands of industry for greater understanding of regulatory frameworks.