Resources

New Westminster Economic Development is currently updating it's Economic Development Plan, building upon the 2008 “Livable City Strategy” –  a roadmap for tapping economic opportunities that will enhance economic growth and attract and retain industry, commerce and investment while maintaining the ‘Royal City’s exceptional quality of life.

Key research and resources that guide the Economic Development Office's work include:

• 2017 Economic Snapshot
• 2016 Business Survey Report
• 2016 Economic Snapshot
• 2014 Economic Snapshot
• 2014 Economic Forum: Economic and Demographic Review and Outlook (Urban Futures)
• 2013 Economic Snapshot
• 2008 Economic Development Strategy – the Livable City Strategy
• Downtown New Westminster Commercial Marketability Study
• Community Profile

Envision 2032: The Integrated Community Sustainability Planning (ICSP) will become the City’s sustainability document that informs and guides City activities in the future, including plans, policies, projects and practices, using a sustainability lens.

Official Community Plan: This document is a statement of New Westminster’s long-term vision for the future. It describes the kind of community into which our municipality wishes to evolve. Business and job creation objectives and policies are front and centre in New Westminster’s long-term development plans.

Neighbourhood Plans: A guide to growth and development within individual neighbourhoods.

Industrial Land Strategy: In New Westminster there are 608 acres of land in 363 separate legal parcels currently zoned for industrial use. Most of this land is located along the Fraser River or near transportation infrastructure (e.g. regional roads, rail lines).

Manufacturing businesses have traditionally operated in a linear fashion. Raw materials go in; products and wastes come out. In recent years, there has been a global movement to change how we see ‘waste’. Businesses, governments, and individuals have been re-thinking that waste by finding a new use for material that otherwise would go to the landfill. 

By finding value as new uses for these wastes or excess by-products, the materials circle back into the economy. Transitioning from a linear to a circular economy adds economic value and environmental benefits.

Building the Circular Economy with the National Industrial Symbiosis Program (NISP) Canada

There are many ways to develop the circular economy. Sometimes it happens organically, sometimes through facilitation and connection, and sometimes by regulation. One business-focused model was developed in the United Kingdom: the National Industrial Symbiosis Program (NISP). NISP uses a facilitation approach that uses workshops and follow-up support to match the inputs and outputs of businesses.

The NISP model has been so successful that it has been adopted by 30 countries, and is now being piloted in Canada right here in the Lower Mainland. Along with a number of municipal, provincial and federal government, and other local partners, the City of New Westminster has co-funded the NISP Canada program that includes six workshops across Metro Vancouver, free synergy follow-up for businesses, and growing a network of businesses and ‘waste’ resources in the region.

Each workshop enables enterprises to find value in unexpected places within their manufacturing, production, or maker processes. The NISP program provides a real-world opportunity for companies to:

• increase business opportunities by finding unexpected local resources
• reduce waste and environmental impacts, and
• strengthen local economic development through collaboration.
   

Circular Economy Workshops for Local Businesses

Two of the six pilot Business-to-Business Circular Economy workshops have taken place in the City of New Westminster at the Anvil Centre. Twenty-six organizations attended in June 2018 and 23 organizations attended in October 2018.

Each workshop kicked off with an update in the City of New Westminster’s Intelligent City initiative and clean energy efforts, as well as circular economy success stories from Metro Vancouver and around the world.

The NISP practitioners then guided the participants to identify excess resources or materials in their operations that they had or wanted that were also considered ‘waste’. These identified resources could be anything from scrap materials to underutilized equipment to waste heat to industrial organics and more. Then, the other businesses had an opportunity to express their interest in using that resource. Creative matches were encouraged from different industry types, allowing diverse enterprises to have unexpected matches.

Together, these two workshops resulted in 313 distinct resources being identified by participants and 404 potential resource matches between local and regional businesses.

Learn more about each workshop with the NISP Canada one-page summary reports:

• June 6, 2017 workshop
• October 5, 2017 workshop

Next Steps

The NISP practitioners with support from City are following up with the participating businesses to discover the resource matches that make the most immediate business sense and help them become a reality. Plus, these businesses and resources are being connected to the companies and resources from all the previous NISP Canada workshops. By growing this network, additional matches and new business opportunities are identified and can be pursued.

If you are part of an enterprise that is currently paying to manage wastes and is interested in exploring new ways to generate value in your operations, you can register for the next NSIP Canada workshop on February 6, 2019, in Surrey via the NISP Canada website.