Industrial processes create heat in the form of exhaust gases, cooling water, and hot equipment surfaces and products.  Recovering this waste heat may allow it to be used to produce electricity, or to cool and heat a building or facility.  Industrial symbiosis is the process of generating uses for industrial byproducts, including heat, water, and materials.
 
The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is the lead state agency to assist in establishing and improving markets for recyclable materials.  Commerce provides a range of programs to assist businesses, such as education, technical assistance, and business grants and loans.  In addition, Commerce implements the Clean Energy Fund program, which funds the development, demonstration, and deployment of clean energy technology.
 
In the 2019-21 Biennial Operating Budget, Commerce was directed to produce a proposal and recommendations for setting up an industrial waste coordination program by December 1, 2019.  The report presents six key recommendations for a proposed Washington program:

• invest in facilitated industrial symbiosis;
• invest in industrial symbiosis research, development, and deployment;
• develop a supportive policy framework;
• continue to support clean energy;
• maximize industrial symbiosis opportunities involving utilities and infrastructure; and
• coordinate and strategically manage materials flow data.

An industrial waste coordination program is established to provide expertise, technical assistance, and best practices to support local industrial symbiosis projects.  The program must be administered by the Department of Commerce (Commerce), and must be administered regionally, with Commerce providing each region with a dedicated facilitator, and technical and administrative support.  The program must facilitate waste exchange by, among other things:

• developing inventories of industrial waste innovation currently in operation;
• generating a material flow data collection system to capture and manage data on resource availability and potential synergies;
• establishing guidance and best practices for emerging local industrial resource hubs;
• identifying access to capital in order to fund projects, including federal, state, local, and private funding; and
• developing economic and environmental performance metrics to measure the results of industrial or commercial hubs.

 
Commerce may coordinate with other agencies, representatives of business and manufacturing networks, and other entities in order to develop material flow generation data and increase multisectoral outreach.
 
In carrying out the program, Commerce may use only publicly available data or data voluntarily provided by program participants.  No entity may be required to disclose material flow data.  Commerce must keep any proprietary business information confidential and such information is exempt from public disclosure under the Public Records Act.
 
Subject to the availability of funds, a competitive industrial symbiosis grant program is established in order to provide grants for the research, development, and deployment of local waste coordination projects.  Grants may go toward, among other things:

• existing industrial symbiosis efforts by public or private sector organizations;
• research on product development using a specific waste flow; and
• feasibility studies to evaluate potential biobased resources.

 
Commerce must develop a method and criteria for the allocation of grants, subject to the following:

• project allocation should reflect geographic diversity, with grants being distributed equally in western and eastern parts of the state, urban and rural areas, and small towns and large cities;
• project allocation should consider factors such as time to implementation and scale of economic or environmental benefits;
• grants must require a one-to-one nonstate to state match; and
• individual grant awards may not exceed $500,000.