Wenatchee Valley moves from industrial symbiosis vision to implementation

WENATCHEE — Two years after local leaders began exploring how one company's waste could become another's raw material, the Wenatchee Valley has been selected to receive state-funded technical assistance to help turn those ideas into reality.

The Center for Sustainable Infrastructure and the Washington State Department of Commerce announced on June 23 that the Wenatchee Valley is one of seven Washington communities chosen to receive assistance developing industrial symbiosis parks or hubs, an approach to economic development that connects businesses so that excess energy, materials, water and other byproducts from one operation become valuable inputs for another.

While the term "industrial symbiosis" may still be unfamiliar to some residents, the concept has become an increasingly prominent part of regional economic planning over the past two years. [Background: "Lost resources, not waste: Wenatchee explores industrial symbiosis as a new economic engine."]

Funding for the assistance comes from a $1.8 million appropriation through the Washington State Department of Commerce's Industrial Symbiosis Technical Assistance Program, created by the Legislature to help communities analyze waste streams, infrastructure needs and opportunities for new industrial partnerships that conserve resources while supporting economic development.

Rather than focusing on waste disposal, industrial symbiosis encourages businesses to see excess heat, organic materials, wastewater and recyclable materials as economic assets that could support nearby industries. By connecting those resource streams, communities can reduce costs, create new products and improve long-term resilience. [Read more: "From lost resources to local prosperity: The valley reimagines waste."]

Our Valley Our Future submitted the application on behalf of the Wenatchee Valley Industrial Symbiosis Initiative, a collaborative that has been meeting since January and includes businesses, public agencies and nonprofit organizations from across the region. The initiative has now held 15 meetings focused on identifying practical opportunities to build a more connected regional economy.

The collaborative has already identified an initial slate of potential projects for further analysis, including developing a regional hub for organic waste reuse and material recovery, producing food-grade carbon dioxide and hydrogen from organic waste, capturing waste heat from data centers for nearby businesses, creating new products from plastic food packaging, reclaiming clean soil from construction projects, recovering reusable building materials from demolition sites and creating an online resource exchange connecting businesses with recovered materials.

Steve Maher said the assistance will help move those ideas from concepts toward implementation.

"The Wenatchee Valley Industrial Symbiosis Initiative aims to create a more sustainable and thriving community by promoting economic development, creating new jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, maximizing the use of local resources, diverting waste from the regional landfill, building up recycling and reuse infrastructure, and promoting soil health," Maher said. "CSI and the ISTA Program will help the Wenatchee Valley further solidify existing partnerships, attract new partners, and move key projects forward to meet these goals."

Thursday's announcement represents the first major outside investment in a regional effort that has steadily evolved from introducing industrial symbiosis as a concept to building the relationships needed to support it. [Earlier coverage: "The operating system for a circular economy is taking shape in North Central Washington."]

As part of the technical assistance, engineers, industrial ecologists and infrastructure planners — including specialists from Denmark, a global leader in industrial symbiosis — will work with the selected communities over the next 10 months to evaluate proposed projects, determine how they should be connected, identify appropriate locations and prepare priority projects for preliminary design, environmental review and future capital funding. The work is expected to conclude by June 30, 2027.

The initiative has identified the Olds Station area in Wenatchee and the Baker Flats area north of East Wenatchee as two potential locations for future industrial symbiosis parks, where businesses could co-locate and share resources more efficiently.

Participating organizations include local businesses such as Stemilt Growers, Icicle Brewing, Yonder Cider, TekniPlex and Winton Manufacturing, along with public agencies including the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority, the City of Wenatchee, Chelan County PUD and several county departments.

The initiative also reflects broader conversations taking place throughout North Central Washington about strengthening the regional economy through collaboration, resource efficiency and long-term resilience. [Related: "Wenatchee Resilience Summit highlights shared challenges, coordinated response."]

OVOF will host a regional Industrial Symbiosis Summit on Sept. 17 at Wenatchee Valley College, where participants are expected to continue developing the initiative's next phase.

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