In the mid 1990’s Lambton county had a population of about 122,000 people, with the largest concentration in Sarnia itself. Sarnia’s close access to all of the southwest of Ontario, including metropolitan Toronto, to its sister city of Port Huron across the river in Michigan, and to the not too distant metropolitan Detroit area, all contributed to significant industrial investments in the area. These include a coal-fired power station, oil refineries and downstream chemical processing (van Berkel, 2006).
Industrial cooperation has a long history in Sarnia-Lambton (AIHA 2000). The Lambton Industrial Society (LIS) was formed with three companies in 1952 with the idea that more could be learned if companies work together and combine resources. In 1997, LIS had 14 members, which share environmental quality information, exchange new ideas and work towards higher performance standards. LIS consist of plant managers from the major chemical firms and does collective monitoring of air, water and ground (van Berkel, 2006).
In face of public concerns on eminent economic decline and inspired by the achievements in the Bruce Energy Centre (BEC), LIS initiated a scoping study on eco-industrial developments in 1997, in collaboration with the Sarnia-Lambton Chamber of Commerce and the Sarnia-Lambton Office of Economic Development (Venta et al. 1997; AIHA 2000). This scoping study sought to identify and review examples, successful as well as failed, of resource synergies in the area, in order to identify economic costs, benefits and existing barriers for regional synergies and establish principles for strengthening and developing networks within the area and elsewhere (van Berkel, 2006).
The following regional synergy examples are documented in this database:
By-Product Synergies
- Reuse of Gypsum from Flue Gas Desulphurisation
- Use of Weak Sulphuric Acid for Fertiliser Manufacturing
Utility Synergies
More information about regional synergies in Sarnia-Lambton can be found on:
We would be interested to learn from other case study examples that could be added to this database:
This webpage was last modified on 20 July 2010.
Disclaimer: The synergy information is provided for general use and although we believe all data to be correct, CSRP can accept no responsibility for the accuracy of the information. All presented case-study examples are retrieved from publicly available resources.