Contact the team
Taahirah Ghoor, Project Manager

WISP
The Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP) is a free facilitation service that seeks to create a circular economy. WISP achieves this by reaching out to businesses and industry, setting up meetings and site visits and, finally, facilitating business synergies. The aims of these engagements are to understand a business's operations and waste streams and, ultimately, to identify unused/underutilised resources.
We capture this data into our secure online database, SYNERGie™ and we then work to identify potential matches between businesses in the network.
Once potential synergies have been identified, WISP facilitates engagements and resource exchanges between matched businesses.
Examples of WISP facilitated synergies follow below:
Textiles
Fabric offcuts to Boutique Bags
Food and Beverage
Diverting egg whites from landfill - An icecream manufacturer gained a new revenue stream through the sale of egg whites to an artisinal bakery.
The Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP) is a multiple award-winning free facilitation service to businesses, which is now funded by the City of Cape Town. Our WISP facilitators provide our business members with dedicated time and technical expertise, connecting companies with unused or residual resources such as materials, energy, water, assets, logistics and expertise. By sharing resources, our members:
No company is too big or too small to benefit from WISP, and we work with members from different industries. For example, we've facilitated successful synergies in the food, textile and manufacturing industries. Membership is free regardless of sector, size or turnover.
How we work and our impact
We reach out to businesses and industry and set up meetings and site visits. The aims of these engagements are to ask a lot of questions, understand a business's operations and waste streams and, ultimately, to identify unused/underutilised resources.
We capture this data into our secure online database, SYNERGie™ and we then work to identify potential matches between businesses in the network.
Thereafter, we facilitate engagements and resource exchanges between matched businesses. Our service is free and all we will ask is for your feedback on the financial, social and environmental benefits of the match.
For more about how we work, download the WISP infographic.
Sock Manufacturing
The WISP story 2013 - 2017