HIEA'S Circular Economy

Membership in HIEA and the communications between members have helped facilitate the development of an "industrial ecosystem." By purchasing each other's by-products and waste, and providing each other with raw materials and feedstock for new processes and products, they are creating a more efficient, environmentally beneficial way of operating.
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Due to the ‘spatial clustering’ or the geographic proximity to one another, member companies can easily exchange commodities and by-products, giving materials a second life instead of being sent to the landfill. This prevents the ‘leakage’ of materials that leave the system as waste products. Collaborations such as these also reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and dust emissions, reduces traffic congestion, increases road safety and lowers the cost to the city for road maintenance.