Waste is a serious national problem that could be avoided if more organisations diverted waste from landfills by establishing industrial symbiotic partnerships. Northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) waste entrepreneurs attending a two-day recycle week event from 13 to14 September in Amajuba district – Newcastle were called upon by the Economic Development of Tourism and Environmental Affairs in collaboration with the National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC-SA) to view waste differently and conceptualise innovative ways to reuse and recycle waste.
Industrial symbiosis (IS) methodologies are reuse and recycle solutions that promote the exchange of residual resources (material, energy, water, waste, assets, logistics, expertise, etc. from one company to another) of one company with another. Participants save costs by diverting waste from landfills, and decrease their CO2 emissions and use of virgin resources. Waste streams identified because of these industrial symbiotic relationships often result in the development of new business opportunities for local SMMEs working in the waste sector.
Speaking to waste pickers, recycle entrepreneurs, and representatives from government and non-governmental organisations attending the KZN recycle week event, NCPC-SA’s KZN Industrial Symbiosis Programme (KISP) Senior Project Coordinator, Pearl Thusi stressed that, “There are many opportunities in waste that require involvement of all role players in order to fulfil synergies.”
Thusi urged attendees to, “Think about waste differently and to see that there are opportunities beyond waste picking in recycling.” Thusi called upon recyclers to consider expanding on how they pick and recycle waste to support their families and future generations.
By referencing a case study of an industrial symbiotic collaboration of a company that supplies residual potatoes to another that converts the potatoes into animal feed, Thusi noted that, “Organic waste is prevalent in KZN and requires minimal to extensive innovation to deal with it. There are huge opportunities for waste entrepreneurs looking to branch into organic waste.” Since organic waste is a major problem in KZN and across the country, efforts to divert it from landfill disposal where it will release substantial greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are considered favourable.
To explain IS in practical terms, Thusi reflected on a recently established industrial symbiotic partnership of farmers in the KZN region who collect sawdust from a woodworking company that has this waste in abundance. The farmers collect the sawdust at no cost, saving on purchasing costs, while the company saves on costs associated with disposal at a landfill.
The NCPC-SA established ISP in 2015 as a free facilitation service to promote the exchange of residual resources from one company to another. Since then, ISP has completed 230 mutually beneficial synergies that resulted in 518 000 tonnes of waste diverted from landfills that amounts to R129.5 million costs avoided due to landfill diversion, they also saved 431 000 tonnes of virgin resources, and reduced GHG by 1.7 million tonnes.
The NCPC-SA is a national industry support programme managed by the CSIR on behalf of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic). The NCPC-SA’s mandate is to support the transition of South African industrial and selected commercial sectors to a low carbon, green economy.
