Europe

Summary
This project, funded by Advantage West Midlands, sits within International Synergies' Intelligence Based Industrial Symbiosis (IBIS) portfolio and provides a contrast to many of our other projects that are demand-led by industry.

IBIS can be used as a tool to inform regional strategies and economic development plans. Using data mapping and materials flow analysis (MFA) to identify resource availability and demand within a predetermined geographic area enables us to calculate indicators, develop strategies and measures for improving the efficiency of material flows. Data collected through an industrial symbiosis programme on waste streams, resource asset identification and excess capacity can be supplemented by other data streams and used to create a geographic information system (GIS) which can then be used for the purpose of resource based planning.

This project saw the project team carry out detailed market analysis on two of the West Midlands' most important industry sectors, food & drink and metals in order to feed into economic development plans for each sector.

Combined geographical data from a range of sources was analysed before applying advanced intelligence based industrial symbiosis techniques as mentioned above, in order to identify resource (reuse) assets at a local level and geographic locations that are prime for industrial symbiosis cluster development within these two sectors.

Impact
A series of geographical resource flow maps identified a number of 'hot spots' for industrial symbiosis synergies in both the food & drink and metals sectors.

The analysis identified a sustainable solution for large quantities of foundry sand in the West Midlands that has since been replicated by other International Synergies' projects such as in Brazil .

It also highlighted a significant quantity of plastic packaging from the food sector. This information led to significant local investment that in turn created nine new jobs.

Significant quantities of organic waste streams were identified in relation to their proximity to a planned anaerobic digestion plant. This information provided the company with the commercial reassurance to build the plant that is due to open in 2011.