Regional Minister Visits NISP
Regional Minister for the West Midlands, Ian Austin, visited the Birmingham offices of International Synergies yesterday, to learn about the impact the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) has made on both the economy and environment here in the region, across the UK and worldwide.
Originating in 2003 as a regional pilot programme in the West Midlands, NISP has fast become a global leader in its field; winning the British Expertise International Award for Global Environmental Impact earlier this month.
Although the programme has generated unrivalled environmental benefits for the UK, such as reducing industrial waste sent to landfill by 6 million tonnes, and cutting carbon emissions of its 12,500 UK members by 5.7 million tonnes, it is NISP's role as a business opportunity programme that was of most interest to the Regional Minister; in particular its role in creating and saving and over 2500 jobs in the region in the last five years and drawing in over £15 million in private investment.
NISP Programme Director, Peter Laybourn, explains: "Cutting costs and generating new income streams is of interest to every business, whatever sector or market you're in.
"We're able to show companies that by adopting a different approach to their business they have the opportunity to save money on purchasing, disposal and transport costs, as well as generating completely new income streams by, in effect, selling the material or resources that they were previously storing, ignoring or sending to landfill."
"Identifying new and novel methods of resource recovery, reprocessing and reuse has seen NISP directly influence the level of new investment into the region, predominantly in environmental technologies," said Ian Austin, Regional MP for the West Midlands.
"This in turn has created a stream of new employment opportunities. As well as securing jobs for those in established industries by providing them with a lifeline to generate new income from materials they would have previously have paid for to send to landfill."
NISP is also carrying out a specialist market intelligence project in the region, focusing on two of the area's key growth sectors; food & drink and metals.
The project, commissioned by Advantage West Midlands (AWM), cross analyses information on resource streams obtained by NISP with other available regional data from local authorities, the Environment Agency and others in order to build up a clear picture of the flow of resources through the region. This information will then be used by NISP to predict and generate new synergies and by AWM to inform its economic development strategy.
Following the visit, Ian Austin commented: "It is so encouraging, particularly in today's climate, to hear about a West Midlands' success story such as NISP.
"However, it's the programme's influence here in the West Midlands in terms of stimulating the development of environmental technologies, widening the skills base and creating and safeguarding jobs that should be recognised."
The visit also provided Peter Laybourn with the opportunity to quiz the Regional Minister ahead of meeting the Prime Minister at a private reception at Number 10 Downing Street next week. The reception will showcase low carbon innovation and partnership, creating opportunity at home and abroad - all of which NISP does in abundance. It is an opportunity for NISP to showcase its latest publication "NISP: The Pathway To A Low Carbon Sustainable Economy".
Originating in 2003 as a regional pilot programme in the West Midlands, NISP has fast become a global leader in its field; winning the British Expertise International Award for Global Environmental Impact earlier this month.
Although the programme has generated unrivalled environmental benefits for the UK, such as reducing industrial waste sent to landfill by 6 million tonnes, and cutting carbon emissions of its 12,500 UK members by 5.7 million tonnes, it is NISP's role as a business opportunity programme that was of most interest to the Regional Minister; in particular its role in creating and saving and over 2500 jobs in the region in the last five years and drawing in over £15 million in private investment.
NISP Programme Director, Peter Laybourn, explains: "Cutting costs and generating new income streams is of interest to every business, whatever sector or market you're in.
"We're able to show companies that by adopting a different approach to their business they have the opportunity to save money on purchasing, disposal and transport costs, as well as generating completely new income streams by, in effect, selling the material or resources that they were previously storing, ignoring or sending to landfill."
"Identifying new and novel methods of resource recovery, reprocessing and reuse has seen NISP directly influence the level of new investment into the region, predominantly in environmental technologies," said Ian Austin, Regional MP for the West Midlands.
"This in turn has created a stream of new employment opportunities. As well as securing jobs for those in established industries by providing them with a lifeline to generate new income from materials they would have previously have paid for to send to landfill."
NISP is also carrying out a specialist market intelligence project in the region, focusing on two of the area's key growth sectors; food & drink and metals.
The project, commissioned by Advantage West Midlands (AWM), cross analyses information on resource streams obtained by NISP with other available regional data from local authorities, the Environment Agency and others in order to build up a clear picture of the flow of resources through the region. This information will then be used by NISP to predict and generate new synergies and by AWM to inform its economic development strategy.
Following the visit, Ian Austin commented: "It is so encouraging, particularly in today's climate, to hear about a West Midlands' success story such as NISP.
"However, it's the programme's influence here in the West Midlands in terms of stimulating the development of environmental technologies, widening the skills base and creating and safeguarding jobs that should be recognised."
The visit also provided Peter Laybourn with the opportunity to quiz the Regional Minister ahead of meeting the Prime Minister at a private reception at Number 10 Downing Street next week. The reception will showcase low carbon innovation and partnership, creating opportunity at home and abroad - all of which NISP does in abundance. It is an opportunity for NISP to showcase its latest publication "NISP: The Pathway To A Low Carbon Sustainable Economy".
