Home 5 News 5 GreenCape hosts 14th WISP Workshop

31 October 2022

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, 25 February 2022 – GreenCape’s Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP) hosted its 14th Business Opportunities Workshop this week at the Lagoon Beach Hotel and Spa. The free workshop was presented in partnership with the City of Cape of Town.

 

WISP is a free service that connects companies so that they can identify and realise the business opportunities enabled by exchanging unused or residual resources (waste materials, energy, water, assets, logistics, expertise) with other companies.

 

“Industrial Symbiosis is a mechanism of ensuring that we extract the complete value from our natural resources before we dispose of them. It also ensures material security, whilst unlocking opportunities for localized production by looping the resources back into the economy,” said Taahirah Ghoor, WISP project manager at GreenCape.

 

The workshop also included some shared case studies from industry, Ferdinand Tuyikeze, Packaging Technologist at Paarman FoodsSaid: “Working with WISP and embracing the concept that waste has value, has resulted in a real mindset shift within Paarman Foods, and has changed the way we approach all our waste streams”.

 

Thirty-six companies participated in the workshop. “173 resources were identified and 496 potential matches were made, the WISP team will be following up on these potential synergies and lending support to the businesses so that some of the synergies can be realised,” Ghoor added.

 

Through facilitated industrial symbiosis, the WISP programme has managed to divert over 135 000 tonnes of waste from going to landfill and an estimated fossil GHG savings of 435,000 tonnes CO2e (a carbon equivalent of ~117 000 household’s annual electricity consumption in South Africa). Cumulatively, the financial benefits to WISP members are R150 million (additional revenue of R75 million, cost savings of R55 million and private investment of R20 million).

 

To get in touch with the WISP team, see our website for details: https://greencape.co.za/content/sector/wisp