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Africa’s first Industrial Symbiosis Programme supports the transition to a circular economy by enabling manufacturing companies to exchange under-used resources that usually become waste.
The Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP) in Cape Town is a multiple award-winning programme and Africa’s first industrial symbiosis project. It's a free facilitation service that helps companies identify mutually beneficial opportunities to exchange resources. By matching companies’ supply and demand for secondary raw materials (materials recycled from waste), it helps businesses identify new opportunities.
Why it’s an example of the circular economy
Industrial Symbiosis promotes circular flows within the industrial sector, creates new business opportunities, and provides mutual benefits for businesses through the exchange of underused resources.
The programme provides mutual benefits for businesses by generating new revenue streams and reducing operational costs. It also:
adds value to materials
prolongs material use through multiple applications
reduces the harmful effects of dumped waste
How it works
Funded by the City of Cape Town and delivered by GreenCape, a non-profit organisation, WISP connects companies so that they can identify business opportunities to use unused or residual resources.
For example, a marine fishing company’s broken fishing nets have been repurposed to make sports nets for schools and sporting facilities.
How it started
The Western Cape Government wanted to improve unemployment rates that had reached 24% in 2011, and stimulate economic growth and create jobs while reducing environmental degradation. It put forward its Green Economy Strategy Framework in 2013, which demonstrated the benefits of a green economy, and looked for innovative projects to support.
Looking for an innovative solution to waste management, Jenny Cargill, Western Cape Premier’s special advisor, went to the UK on an industrial symbiosis study tour. Taking inspiration from the UK’s National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) and adapting it to the South African context, the WISP pilot was launched in 2013.
Positive results
To date, the programme has diverted more than 104,900 tonnes of waste from landfill, while creating 218 economy-wide jobs, mainly in SMEs. By providing many new business opportunities, WISP has generated over ZAR 120 million (USD 8.50 million) in additional revenue, cost savings, and private investments. For every rand invested by the government, WISP returned seven rands in economic benefits to its network. WISP’s success has encouraged the development of other Industrial Symbiosis Programmes in other South African provinces and African countries.
Download the case study, originally published in October 2020:
