Sustainable Development through By-Product Synergy

Phase I of the Gulf Coast By-Product Synergy (BPS) project, sponsored by The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) and the U.S. Department of Energy and facilitated by the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development, is now complete. The concept behind ByProduct Synergy is also referred to as Industrial Ecosystem, Industrial Symbiosis, or “Industrial Ecology” (IE) system. The philosophy of the IE approach is to enhance the leading edge emergence of an industrial manufacturing system that relies on cooperation among the entities involved, in that they use each other’s by-product materials and energy as resources. In this way the system’s virgin material extraction from the earth and energy input is minimized, so is the waste and emission output. This paper discusses key lessons learned from the Phase I effort and the planned activities for Phase II. In Phase I we looked for internal synergy opportunities within the six major Dow Gulf Coast sites in Texas and Louisiana, to gain experience on how to make the BPS process work. The search for synergy opportunities among many companies and many industries is called Phase II. Since the beginning of the project, we have held the belief that most of the untapped synergy opportunities would be outside Dow. For the IE concept to have a better chance to work, a broad diversity that involves other industries’ participation, a transparent communication platform for participants and strong partnerships are critical.