Businesses under the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kumasi have been exposed to a new environmentally-conscious concept that connects industries and creates business opportunities.

The Ghana Industrial Symbiosis Programme (GhISP) supports industries to develop smarter ways of resource and waste management.

Ghana is among three countries in Africa to tap into the opportunity, which is supported by the Industrial Symbiosis Limited (ISL) UK and funded by the European Union (EU).

International Manager of ISL, James Woodcock, led a workshop to introduce businesses in Kumasi to industrial symbiosis, including how to turn their waste into resource to save money, create new business opportunities and improve their environmental performance.

Coordinator of the Ghana Programme, Richard Mensah, says there are benefits in effective environmental management, noting that better management of resources will make local businesses attractive for investments.

He emphasized the application of the “waste hierarchy” concept of reuse, reduce, recycle, reengineer and dispose to ensure that waste is turned into a resource.

According to him, “if waste is seen as a resource then it can be diverted to do other things”, including energy from waste, fertilizer production and manufacturing processes.

Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Fosu Yeboah, says the inherent benefits of industrial symbiosis make it worthwhile to adopt.

“There will be reduction in cost of managing their waste; a lot of money is spend on waste management but with this improved system, we envisage a situation where there will be a huge cut in the wage bill,” he said. “Most of this waste could also be turned into raw material for other companies, so there is financial gain here; instead of sending the waste into the landfill, they are now going to sell to other companies as raw materials”.