OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington State Department of Commerce has announced $850,000 in grants to four projects to help support develop beneficial uses for industrial waste.
This is for the Industrial Symbiosis Program that funds research, developmental and even implementation projects. This program seeks to turn waste into a valued resource.
The programs they are funding include:
Cascadia Produce (Auburn) – $250,000This will help establish a retail rejection hub and distribution center for rescued food, and develop an online marketplace to serve as a market outlet to an expanded number of organizations with direct access to rescued food.Qualterra (Cheney) – $206,857The grant will go to turn downstream material from Washington industries into a useful biochar product to bolster crop and soil health. The study aims to further cultivate symbiotic relationships with industries aiming to recycle biomass waste streams, as well as with growers and farmers seeking to produce crops in a profitable and environmentally sustainable way.Waste Loop (Leavenworth) – $157,326This will help further develop the Wenatchee Valley Reuse Innovation Center, a facility dedicated to promoting and facilitating the reuse of materials from construction and agricultural industries. The primary goal is to promote a circular economy by diverting waste from landfills while encouraging the repurposing or refurbishment of materials into beneficial reuse through direct resale or value-added production.Washington State University (Pullman) – $235,817The grant will help manufacture biochar from waste biomass such as forestry residues and municipal biosolids, and incorporate it into concrete to develop durable, carbon-negative alternative for the construction sector. Diverting waste biomass to beneficial use in concrete aims to stimulate the local economy and create jobs while mitigating climate change.
“This year, Commerce received a wide range of exciting proposals, again highlighting the magnitude of industry-driven involvement in helping to achieve the state’s decarbonization goals,” said Kirk Esmond, Commerce Sustainable Business Development Director. “These beneficial projects showcase how underutilized resources of one company—such as waste, byproducts and materials—can be converted to energy or added-value products. “
These four programs, along with many others across the state, will help industrial symbiosis efforts, assist others that are on their way and support those still on the drawing board.
