The Port of Bellingham has been chosen as one of seven Washington communities to receive expert technical assistance aimed at developing an industrial symbiosis hub, a system in which one business's waste becomes another's raw material. The selection, announced July 23, comes through the Washington Department of Commerce's Industrial Symbiosis Technical Assistance (ISTA) Program, funded by $1.825 million from the state's Climate Commitment Act budget for 2025 to 2027.
What Industrial Symbiosis Actually Means
Industrial symbiosis is an approach to manufacturing and resource management that connects businesses so they can share and exchange materials, energy, and water that would otherwise be wasted. The classic example is a brewery whose spent grain feeds a nearby farm, whose runoff is treated by a municipal system, whose biogas powers the brewery again. Applied at scale, the concept can dramatically cut disposal costs, reduce carbon emissions, and create new revenue streams for participating businesses.
In Whatcom County, the Port envisions a hub that draws specifically from the agricultural and forestry sectors, which dominate the rural economy east and north of Bellingham. Dairies, wood and forest product manufacturers, food recovery networks, and energy utilities are all named as potential participants. The Port manages approximately 1,600 acres of land and 300 acres of tidelands throughout the county, giving it a geographically diverse set of sites that could serve as exchange points rather than a single centralized park.
"This technical assistance program will provide an important opportunity to explore how industrial symbiosis can strengthen our regional economy," said Port Executive Director Tiffany DeSimone. "By connecting businesses and infrastructure in ways that turn waste streams into valuable resources, we can create new opportunities for investment, innovation, and job creation."
Who Is Providing the Assistance
The technical work will be carried out by the Center for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI), a Bellingham-area nonprofit that has delivered similar programs in Port Angeles, Vancouver, Longview, Wenatchee, and Spokane over the past two years. CSI's team includes engineers, industrial ecologists, infrastructure planners, and implementation specialists. Notably, the team also includes what CSI describes as world-leading industrial symbiosis experts based in Denmark, where the concept was pioneered in the town of Kalundborg starting in the 1970s.
The Center for Sustainable Infrastructure received applications from 22 eligible entities across Washington, including cities, ports, private businesses, tribes, and economic development councils. The Port of Bellingham was among seven selected. Other recipients include the Ports of Pend Oreille, Camas-Washougal, and Moses Lake, as well as the Thurston County Economic Development Council, a Spokane biomethane company, and an economic development group in Wenatchee.
"We're thrilled to be able to help more Washington communities turn waste into wealth," said CSI Executive Director Rhys Roth. "This is a golden opportunity to help local leaders apply Industrial Symbiosis principles to develop industrial hubs that make energy, water, and material resources more reliable, exchangeable, affordable, and sustainable."
The Stakeholders Already at the Table
The Port has already secured commitments from a broad coalition of partners for the feasibility project, formally called the Whatcom County Industrial Symbiosis Feasibility Project. Participants include agricultural producers and especially dairies, wood and forest product manufacturers, food recovery networks, Whatcom County government, the City of Bellingham, Kulshan Carbon Trust, Whatcom PUD, and Puget Sound Energy. That roster spans both the public and private sectors and crosses jurisdictional lines, which is often the hardest part of getting a collaborative resource project off the ground.
Dairies are a logical anchor for any agricultural symbiosis hub in Whatcom County. The county is home to one of the highest concentrations of dairy farms in the Pacific Northwest, and dairy operations generate significant volumes of manure, methane, wastewater, and organic byproducts that are currently managed as waste. Biodigestion, composting, and energy recovery systems could convert those streams into biogas, fertilizer, and electricity.
Forestry and wood product manufacturing, also prominent in the county, generates sawdust, bark, off-cuts, and waste heat that symbiosis systems elsewhere have routed into biomass energy, particleboard production, and district heating. The Port of Bellingham has historically supported timber-related industry at its properties and would be positioned to facilitate those connections.
Timeline and What Comes Next
CSI plans to complete its work in four phases over roughly 10 months, with all assistance finished no later than June 30, 2027. The end goal is a prioritized capital project that is ready to move into preliminary design, environmental review, and funding applications. In other words, the assistance is intended to produce a shovel-ready concept, not just a feasibility study that sits on a shelf.
The Port's selection comes as Bellingham and Whatcom County are paying increasing attention to the economic development potential of the clean energy transition. The county's agricultural sector has faced persistent cost pressures, and linking waste management costs to new revenue streams could offer a meaningful financial benefit to rural producers.
Residents and businesses interested in following the project's progress can find updates through the Port of Bellingham's official news page. The Washington Department of Commerce's ISTA Program information is also publicly available for those who want to track how the statewide initiative is rolling out. For context on other economic development activity at the Port, see earlier reporting on the Harris Avenue Shipyard cleanup milestone.
