Overview

Businesses are a major source of waste, much of which can be re-used by other organisations (for example, cardboard can be shredded to make horse bedding, dirty sand can be used to make sand-bags). Businesses also typically have a number of underutilised resources which could be shared with other parties, possibly also sharing costs.

Therefore the aim of this project is to get local businesses together to donate or exchange spare resources (e.g. space in the warehouse, half empty delivery vans going to London, under utilized manual workers) and waste (e.g. cardboard, packaging) thus encouraging cross-business efficiency and trade in Totnes. This directly reduces waste going to landfill, saves money for each business and increases interaction in the business community. It better reflects the no-waste model we see in nature where waste from one part of the system is used as input for another. In business, this is called Industrial Symbiosis*.

We aim to hold a number of business resource exchanges or swapshops to include all business sectors in all parts of Totnes & District.

Current status, news & updates

So far we have held one Business Swapshop on the Totnes Industrial Estate (here's the associated flyer and press release). This was delivered by TTT, Envision and NISP in partnership with the Totnes & District Chamber of Commerce.

We are currently looking for funding to help support another 4-5 events. We are also hoping to develop an online tool that will support any local business wanting to donate or exchange spare resources or waste with another.

Contact

If you have any questions about this project, or you want to get involved please contact exchange.totnes@transitionnetwork.org.  

* Industrial symbiosis brings together companies from all business sectors with the aim of improving cross industry resource efficiency through the commercial trading of materials, energy and water and sharing assets, logistics and expertise. It engages traditionally separate industries and other organisations in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water and/or by-products together with the shared use of assets, logistics and expertise.