Washington’s continued momentum around industrial symbiosis (IS) was on display at last week’s Nordic Innovation Summit in Seattle!
Danish Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen’s keynote speech emphasized the importance of IS and showcased Denmark’s readiness to support Washington’s efforts:
"There are now tremendous opportunities for collaboration and for learning from each other. An extensive number of state legislators from Washington have actually gone to Denmark over the last seven years to look at industrial symbiosis and I sense now… a very strong movement to accelerate the development of similar systems [in Washington].”
“By sharing resources and reducing waste, companies in the symbiosis have demonstrated the power of collaboration in driving sustainable development.… Washington state became the first state in the United States to pass an industrial symbiosis program and with bipartisan support from the state legislature. I think it's very positive that Washington has taken note of our success in industrial symbiosis and is actively working to establish similar systems.”
Another highlight of this year’s summit: CSI’s Executive Director, Rhys Roth, moderated a panel with Randy Hayden (Port of Pasco), Ted Sprague (Cowlitz EDC), and Niels Nielsen (Denmark’s GreenLab). The panel described the benefits of the GreenLab model and how Longview and Pasco hope to follow in their footsteps by creating industrial symbiosis parks here in Washington.
With CSI’s support, plans for industrial symbiosis parks in Pasco and Longview are underway and received significant support from the Washington legislature during the 2024 session in the form of a $300,000 appropriation that we hope will lay the groundwork for additional funding in years to come.
With help from our partners including the Scan Design Foundation, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Denmark Trade Council, and GreenLab, CSI will continue to do our part to support propelling the green transition forward in Washington.