The Gauteng Industrial Symbiosis Programme (GISP) marked a significant milestone this year, celebrating 10 years of helping industry recover and redirect resources for reuse. The National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC-SA) hosted the commemorative event, titled A Decade of Industrial Sustainability: Unlocking Growth Opportunities for SMMEs through Industrial Symbiosis, on 6 November 2025 at the Holiday Inn Johannesburg Sunnyside Park.

Opening the proceedings, Director at [CM1] the Gauteng Department of Environment, Basani Ndindani highlighted the strong collaboration between the ISP and Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) initiatives. She noted that this partnership has supported several provincial targets, from reducing carbon emissions to advancing the green economy, and has aligned closely with delivery agreements from the Premier’s Office.

In his keynote address, Department of Forestry, F[CM2] isheries and the Environment (DFFE) Chief Director, Mokoena, praised the NCPC-SA for the achievements over the past decade. He emphasised that Gauteng has met 100% of its National Waste Management Strategy (NWMS) targets through sustained partnerships across the province and the country, a significant accomplishment in waste diversion and sustainable industrial development.

The NCPC-SA National Programme Manager, [CM3] Victor Manavhela, echoed this sentiment, noting that companies participating in GISP have not only saved on landfill costs but have also accessed new markets and generated profit, demonstrating the real value of a circular economy. He added that industrial symbiosis plays a key role in reducing CO₂ emissions, landfill volumes, virgin resource use, industrial water consumption, hazardous waste and transport-related pollution, while opening new business opportunities for industry.

Over the past decade, GISP has supported the growing uptake of industrial symbiosis among businesses of all sizes throughout Gauteng. “We are working to entrench a deeper practice of industrial symbiosis within industry and local government to further the circular economy ethos,” Manavhela explained.

To date, nearly 800 Gauteng-based companies have been introduced to the benefits of industrial symbiosis. Their participation has resulted in 303 477.93 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill, R138 703 176.61 in avoided landfill costs, and a reduction of 1 542 481.83 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of its 10-year celebrations and efforts to promote industrial symbiosis, the NCPC-SA[CM4]  extended an invitation to practitioners from the mining, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors, whose sectors' competitiveness could be directly impacted by mechanisms that impose carbon reduction, such as the European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and carbon tax, to participate in the event.

With the implementation of the carbon tax, companies that convert waste into valuable resources can now benefit financially through carbon credit sales. This system not only rewards innovation but also encourages greater investment in waste-to-resource projects, which help divert waste from landfills and reduce carbon emissions. Carbon Credit Specialist Mike Nicholls reflected on how this mechanism is becoming a game-changer for South Africa’s green economy, aligning sustainability goals with tangible economic returns.

GISP is a satellite initiative of the national Industrial Symbiosis Programme (IS Programme), piloted by the NCPC-SA in 2014 and formalised in 2015. Today, the NCPC-SA implements the IS Programme across eight provinces, offering a free-to-join waste exchange platform that connects companies to share underused or residual resources, from materials and energy to assets and expertise, helping divert waste from landfills and reduce operational costs.

For more information on the NCPC-SA and the IS Programme, visit www.ncpc.co.za.