2025 Summer Showcase Recap
The 2025 NextCycle Michigan Summer Showcase, held on June 25th at the University of Michigan Dearborn, did not disappoint! The event commenced with a welcome from Abdullah Hammoud, Mayor of Dearborn. The mayor described the importance of safeguarding natural resources and air quality while strengthening economic development for the citizens of Dearborn and the state of Michigan.
The keynote speaker, Anna DeLage, recycling market development manager with the South Carolina Department of Commerce, connected recycling and material recovery with building a strong economy. DeLage described her efforts bridging recyclers with end markets as a commerce effort – one that recognizes recycled and recovered materials as a feedstock to next-life manufacturing and products, creating jobs and generating revenue.
Then it was time for the teams to take the stage. The showcase was split into two groups: eight teams with recycling innovation & technology solutions and nine teams with organic material solutions. Each NextCycle team was allowed five minutes to pitch their work to a group of esteemed judges. Judges asked questions and provided feedback to each team before commencing for selecting teams to receive awards. Available awards for each group included a Best Pitch award (selected by the judging panel) and a People’s Choice award (voted on by the live audience) totaling $16,000 in available funding for teams.
The 2025 Summer Showcase winners:
Best Pitch – Recycling Technologies: Vitriform3D (Knoxville, TN) - Converting glass waste too fine to be used in traditional new glass production into engineered stone for wall cladding panels. www.vitriform3d.com
People’s Choice – Recycling Technologies: Sequestro (Ann Arbor, MI) - Water filtration utilizing waste wood pulp to adsorb and remove PFOS and PFOA, two commonly encountered PFAS.
www.sequestro.coBest Pitch – Organic Material Solutions: Sisters on a Roll/St. Suzanne Cody Rouge Community Resource Center (Detroit, MI) - Developing a new income stream to support rescuing food to feed Detroit neighborhoods. www.sistersonaroll.biz www.stsuzannecodyrouge.org
People’s Choice – Organic Material Solutions: Ed’s Used Parts & Salvage (Hancock, MI) - Expanding operations to include compost production from packaged and post-consumer food and yard waste. www.edsusedpartsinc.com
The day was not over. Julie Staveland, assistant division director with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), took the stage to announce that every team that pitched that afternoon – 17 teams in all – would receive a $5,000 Harvest Grant to further their initiatives and strengthen Michigan’s circular economy.
Special thanks were extended to the Summer Showcase sponsors, including RRS, Centrepolis, the Michigan Recycling Coalition, and the Michigan Organics Council.
Previously in the week, NextCycle Michigan kicked off the next cohort of teams during a two-day academy on June 23-24, also held at the University of Michigan Dearborn. Watch for these teams to pitch their recycling supply chain initiatives and public-sector programs during the Fall Showcase in October.
NextCycle Michigan will also have another application round in Fall 2025 for organic material solutions and recycling technology initiatives. More information will be posted on the NextCycle Michigan website and LinkedIn page.