City of Cape Town-funded programme shortlisted for World Economic Forum Circulars Award

Funded by the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape Industrial Symbiosis Programme (WISP) has been shortlisted as a finalist for The Circulars, a global circular economy award initiative held by the World Economic Forum and the Forum of Young Global Leaders.

The awards are open to individuals and organisations from commerce and civil society in seven categories and are designed to recognise and celebrate all facets of the circular economy movement. WISP has been selected as a 2018 finalist in the Public Sector category.

WISP is a free service that connects companies so that the underutilised or discarded resources of one company can be used by another. To date, WISP has diverted 27,200 tonnes of waste from landfill, generated R41.6m in economic benefits for its members and created 140 jobs in the local economy.

Now in its fourth year, The Circulars event will be held at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos on 22 January. WISP was selected as a finalist alongside top multinational organisations including H&M, HP Inc., IKEA, Enel, Google and Apple.

WISP is delivered by GreenCape, a not-for-profit development agency working to grow the green economy in South Africa.