Eco-Industrial Networking: A New Vision for Eco-Economic Development in the GTA
Industrial areas seem to be immune to the push for sustainability in communities. The places that refine and manufacture the toys and machines that make the modern world tick are often seen as untouchable, left to hum away in their own grey bubble. Nobody wants to push industry too hard when there are plenty of municipalities willing to open their doors to non-sustainable development.
But in a larger system, isolation breeds inefficiencies and missed opportunities. Pieces of a system may work in isolation but they’re still connected by the same transportation corridors, municipal servicing and natural systems. A lack of communication can mean higher costs and the degradation of the larger system.
Take for instance the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). As perhaps the most heavily industrialized area in North America it faces challenges ranging from traffic congestion and a low employment density to dwindling employment land supplies and a lack of land-use certainty. All of these issues have the potential to combine and not only drive up land costs but also drive the industry further afield leading to fewer employment opportunities.
According to the Ontario government’s Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the GTA will see an increase of 2.8 million people, many of whom will require jobs. To accommodate that growth, municipalities are called upon to protect their employment lands from conversion to uses that are not compatible with industrial uses, while ensuring there is an adequate supply for future growth.
Some may argue there is no need to worry- the GTA is undergoing an economic shift to technology-based employment, making the loss of land for industrial development inconsequential. While that’s partially true, the reality is that manufacturing is the highest-employing sector in the GTA- these are high paying jobs for highly skilled workers, two facts that make retaining and attracting manufacturing an important part of the GTA’s economic strategy.
The Region of Peel faces many of the same challenges as other GTA municipalities: employment land supplies are due to be maxed out by 2021, the region has a low employment density (39 employees per hectare) and is projected to absorb an additional 340,000 jobs by 2031. Industry has pointed to traffic congestion and lacking transit as additional concerns.
One of the solutions being developed in the Region of Peel is eco-industrial networking. Eco-industrial networking is essentially businesses working together to reduce resource use and improve their financial and environmental performance. In such a situation, one company’s waste may become another’s feedstock; a group of warehousing companies may build a geothermal district heating system; businesses may share human resources or emergency response costs, or employee groups may take ownership of natural trail systems around their workplaces. The idea is to reduce costs by working together in a larger system, rather than humming away in isolation.
The framework for engaging industry and the community in eco-industrial networking is an eco-industrial park. This framework provides the starting point for industries to engage their industrial neighbours to realize efficiencies and cost savings while providing municipalities and the private sector opportunities to offer services to the industrial community.
A partnership between the Region of Peel, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), the project aims to create Canada’s largest eco-industrial park, where economic, environmental and community concerns are introduced into the industrial system. The idea is to reduce costs by working together in a larger system, rather than humming away in isolation.
The project is looking at a study area of over 11,000 hectares of industrial/commercial/ institutional lands surrounding Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. While in its infancy, the eco-park project is currently completing a resource baseline for industries within the study area. This resource baseline will provide information on energy use, waste generation and water consumption and aid in the development of outreach programs to help companies realize efficiencies and develop synergies between each other.
An example of the power of knowing an industrial area’s resource use can be taken from the Ross Eco-Industrial Park in Regina, Saskatchewan. With over 7 million square feet of building space, it was revealed that over 70 percent of the area’s natural gas use was being eaten up by non-manufacturing businesses for space heating. Understanding what sectors and companies are utilizing what resources can help target incentives and new solutions, such as district heating systems, that otherwise would have been uneconomical if done in isolation.
Eco-industrial parks also offer other benefits, such as opportunities for higher employment densities through efficient land-use decisions, enhancement and integration of natural heritage systems and improved stormwater treatment. They provide a framework for engaging businesses on improved land use, such as lot coverage, higher ceilings and eco-economic clustering.
Thinking of industrial parks within a system also offers an opportunity to address productivity by tackling the dreariness of industrial parks. Enhancing natural systems and improving stormwater treatment through onsite naturalization provide recreation opportunities for employees, while substantially improving personal connections to the place they work, as well as the aesthetic and environmental benefits of industrial areas.
Overall, looking at industrial areas within a system and embracing eco-industrial networking framework offers many benefits beyond the improved financial and environmental performance of the businesses involved; but, it also offers marketing opportunities to increase industrial assessment and a framework for ensuring there is enough land available accommodate future eco-employment opportunities. This is exactly why the Region of Peel, GTAA and TRCA have partnered to develop Canada’s largest eco-industrial park.
