Industrial symbiosis summit to explore regional opportunities

WENATCHEE — Our Valley Our Future will bring regional businesses, utilities and local governments together Sept. 17 for an Industrial Symbiosis Summit at Wenatchee Valley College, exploring opportunities to turn waste streams and unused resources into economic value.

Industrial symbiosis links businesses and other facilities so that resources one operation might otherwise discard — including heat, water, materials or other byproducts — can be used by another. The approach is intended to reduce waste while making more productive use of resources already available within a region.

The summit comes as the Wenatchee Valley Industrial Symbiosis Initiative moves into a new stage of development. The initiative was recently selected as one of seven communities statewide to receive technical assistance for developing industrial symbiosis parks.

The regional initiative includes about 30 organizations and is coordinated by OVOF through a Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority grant. Technical assistance is funded by the Washington State Department of Commerce and provided by the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure.

The Sept. 17 summit will include presentations and panel discussions focused on existing projects and potential applications in Chelan and Douglas counties.

A panel on shifting local utilities into industrial symbiosis will be moderated by Nick Rohrbach of the Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority. Panelists include Jessica Shaw of the City of Wenatchee, Darrell Winans of the Douglas County Sewer District, Ben Cairns of Tidal Vision and Chelan Mayor Erin McCardle.

A second panel will focus on building an agricultural circular economy in North Central Washington. Jana Fischback of Stemilt Growers will moderate a discussion featuring Robbette Schmit of Winton Manufacturing, Andy Weinstein of GODOT, Reid Fryhover of Sustained Use Dispose Service and Patricia Rivera of TekniPlex.

The program will also include an overview of the Wenatchee Valley Industrial Symbiosis Initiative, an update on Chelan County’s Forest Products Campus and activities intended to connect businesses and other entities that could make use of one another’s resources.

The concept itself dates back decades. Industrial symbiosis was pioneered in Denmark beginning about 50 years ago, with businesses finding ways to use energy, water, materials and residual products that otherwise could have gone unused or become waste.

OVOF says the Wenatchee Valley is well positioned to apply the approach locally, with the summit bringing together practitioners and organizations already working on projects as well as those exploring future opportunities.

The Industrial Symbiosis Summit will be held at the Jack & Edna Maguire Center at Wenatchee Valley College. Check-in, networking and visits with participating organizations begin at 9:30 a.m., with the program beginning at 10 a.m. Lunch will be provided at noon by Szmania's Catering / Archive Bistro, and the summit concludes at 2 p.m.

Registration is $10 per person and includes lunch. Registration is available at givebutter.com/OVOF-Symbiosis.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media