What it is

The Greater Houston By-Product Synergy project supports a variety of important goals for the region and for industry including:

• Reduced resource use – energy, water, petroleum, natural resources
• Reduced carbon emissions resulting from the reuse of existing materials rather than use of new materials with a carbon generating extraction/production stream
• Reduced waste to landfill and reduced processing and disposal costs of hazardous materials
• Innovations in manufacturing discovered and developed for efficiency and productivity
• Opportunities to address regulation issues and reduce barriers to materials exchange processes

• A cement manufacturer uses the slag from a neighboring steel mill in its production process, resulting in a 10% increase in production output and a 30-40% decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions.
• A major US chemical company identifies synergies between six of its own plants with an estimated annual cost savings of $15 million and total annual energy savings of 900 billion BTU.
• A fiberglass manufacturer connects with a firm that will use its 500 tons/year of off-spec material as well as discovering soy polymers and chicken feathers as more benign and less expensive raw materials.
• A brick manufacturer uses incinerated cow bone ash from meat processing plants, industrial ash, and water treatment residue to create a new product line of recycled “eco-bricks,” diverting 16,000 tons of waste from landfills each year.

With raw materials prices escalating as rapidly as they are, by-product synergy is a practical survival strategy for the years to come. In the US, manufacturers devalue millions of dollars of inventory each year—even the leanest manufacturing process does not eliminate the problems of yield loss or occasional off-specification product. Instead of total loss and disposal of these resources, by-product synergy solutions can identify new uses and can naturally lead to business savings in the six figure range or more.

Michael Gromacki, Manufacturing Director, Cook Composites and Polymers
Founding Member, Kansas City, Chicago Waste to Profit and By-Product Synergy NW BPS Projects

The BPS process breaks down the barriers to cross-industry communication, as well as the barriers between government and industry and between small and large companies, by fostering dialogue and working across groups to identify supply chain localization and waste minimization opportunities. Recognizing these advantages, and building on the success of BPS projects in other areas, the US BCSD has initiated a BPS project in the greater Houston region for 2009.

Greater Houston BPS:

Involves establishing a forum where companies, regulators and local governments explore reuse, recovery, remanufacturing, and recycling opportunities through collected information and facilitated interactions. Participants sign agreements that spell out deliverables, confidentiality issues and intellectual property rights.

Greater Houston BPS US BCSD Role:

• Collects and analyzes data on existing operations and costs
• Trains participants to identify synergies and expand existing synergies
• Facilitates by-product synergy assessments among participants
• Provides implementation assistance for synergies
• Communicates and records results

Greater Houston BPS Helps Participants:

• Reduce costs for materials, energy, disposal and transportation
• Identify new market and product development opportunities
• Measure their environmental progress
• Become more sustainable and profitable

• Diversity: Participants represent a wide variety of industries and organizations, thereby broadening the markets in which participants can find opportunities.
• Communication: BPS provides a safe forum to share ideas without fear of legal, regulatory or other threats. The process stimulates thinking beyond fence lines.
• Partnerships: By leveraging technical consultants, regulatory agencies, research organizations and funding sources to assist participants, barriers to implementing the synergies are greatly reduced.
• Quantifiable Benefits: All BPS programs carefully track associated environmental, economic and social benefits. This provides current and prospective participants, as well as funders and other interested parties, with a continuing incentive to maintain and expand the program.

The design of the Greater Houston BPS project is based upon the US BCSD process design which has been used to develop by-product synergy networks in several U.S. metropolitan areas. The United Kingdom’s National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) will also share its by-product synergy experience and case studies to accelerate our progress. US BCSD coordinated projects are on-going or beginning in Chicago, Mobile, Kansas City, Puget Sound Region, Ohio, Central Texas, New Orleans, and New England.

• Materials and opportunities assessment
• Data collection for impact tracking
• Site visit
• Preliminary synergy identification
• Working group meetings
• Analysis of progress and impact
• Expert assistance in process management, waste and hazardous materials reduction, and innovative business strategies
• Educational opportunities
• Complimentary first year associate membership in United States Business Council for Sustainable Development
• Recognition and opportunities to showcase achievements

The Center for Resilience at the Ohio State University has produced a short video outlining the concept and values of the US BCSD’s by-product synergy process.