THE biggest single sustainability project seen in the region was launched yesterday.

Businesses were urged to turn others' waste to their advantage and vice-versa to create improved ways of working.

The Clean Environment Management Centre (Clemance) showed a range of Tees Valley businesses how they could work to find ways of improving their collective working practices.

Clemance, in conjunction with European Processes Industrial Competitiveness Centre (EPICC), has set up the Tees Valley Industrial Symbiosis Project to push forward ideas.

Economic savings were there to be made, businesses were told at the project's launch at the Samsung Conference Centre.

Firms could avoid proposed increases in landfill and aggregate taxes by exchanging byproducts.

A number of major companies have signed up to the new initiative, which is attempting to create a more sustainable industrial world for the future.

BASF, ConocoPhillips, Corus, DuPont Textiles and Interiors, Huntsman, Northumbrian Water, Environmental Industries Federation and Teesside Chemicals Initiative have formed a core group of companies overseeing the project.

Gareth Kane, Clemance project manager, said: "It is about collaboration between industry, the co-operative use of waste and under-utilised materials.

"We see this as a step towards a more sustainable society, one in which we can protect the environment."

John Irwin, president of the North East Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the establishment of the project, but said there needed to be a sea-change in attitudes to embrace the project.

"There has really got to be a shift in thinking," he said. "Many of these opportunities are under-exploited.

"This initiative will accelerate the processes of actually forming symbiotic relationships. It is a very exciting time."

But it was recognised that decision-makers at some of the major international companies involved would have to be brought on board to make any substantial achievements.

Initial brainstorming sessions have been held to discuss ways in which companies can work together on the project.

More than 70 ideas have been generated so far.

The project will also soon embark on a data-gathering exercise to give it facts and figures to help establish future symbiotic relationships between firms.