Come discuss with NextCycle staff member Elisa Seltzer how NextCycle Michigan is catalyzing the circular economy.

Register now to save your spot: http://ow.ly/cv0c50Le7W0

Join us for the 2022 NextCycle Michigan Showcase co-hosted with the Michigan Recycling Coalition Fall into Recycling event. This two-day event will include showcasing of NextCycle Teams from I2P3, ROADS, and RSC Innovation Challenge Tracks, educational sessions, and networking opportunities.

The Showcase is the culmination of NextCycle Michigan programming. It is an opportunity for the teams to share their accomplishments and deliver a pitch. This year’s event highlights  24 Teams pursuing innovative initiatives to advance recycling, recovery, and reuse projects in Michigan. The teams will pitch their projects to judges, potential investors, communities, and more.

THE TEAMS

Beyond Recycling

Projects that go beyond traditional recycling, providing a spark for a more diverse and robust circular economy in Michigan.

• Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit: Deconstructs buildings in Southeast Michigan to keep environmental resources out of the waste stream and to make affordable housing materials available to low- and moderate-income families.

• City of Ann Arbor: An initiative that aims to stimulate the expansion of the circular economy in and around Ann Arbor, MI.

• City of Mt. Pleasant: A collaboration between the City of Mt. Pleasant and Central Michigan University to explore co-digestion of food waste and sludge at the waste water treatment plant.

• Pink Elephant Products and Events: Seeks to expand zero-waste event services in Southeast Michigan to recover valuable materials for marketing and diversion from the landfill.

• Public Thread: Seeks to develop and market a line of recycling collection bags made from waste vinyl billboards.

• RRRASOC & SOCRRA: Develop a strategic Storm and Disaster Debris Management Plan.

• Suppliers Partnership for the Environment: Seeks to develop a circular system for recycling the packaging of auto parts along the supply chain.

Community-based Solutions

Community projects to increase access to recycling and material management programs to meet local needs.

• Biz Aid LLC: Seeks to develop and expand a hub and spoke collection network in parts of Southwest Michigan that lack recycling access.

• HSC Foundation, Alger County, Schoolcraft County: Pursuing recycling solutions in the Upper Peninsula including re-development of an old transfer station and engagement around recycling in the region.

• Michigan Technological University: Collaborating to plan a construction section of recycled glass asphalt pavement in Dickinson County.

• Northeast Michigan Council of Governments: Providing supportive educational and professional services to 8 Northeast MI rural counties desiring to provide a robust, collaborative resource recovery program for its constituents.

• Pontiac Regional Chamber of Commerce: Aligning communities on recycling opportunities and collaborative approaches to improve access and keep value in the region.

• Shiawassee Health and Wellness: Seeking to expand recycling and vocation opportunities.

• West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum: Developing recycling infrastructure and circular economy opportunities in Benton Harbor.

Shovel-Ready

Projects ready to break new ground and execute public and private partnerships. These solutions are primed for funding and implementation.

• American Classic Construction and Supply: Pursuing the development of a portable grinding operation to service all of Michigan.BSG Tire Recycling, Porous Pave Inc.: Turning Detroit-based scrap tires into a valuable community asset.

• Goodwill Industries of West Michigan & HydroBlox: Seeking to utilize recycled plastic to be manufactured into storm water drainage systems.

• Noble Polymers: Seeks to pivot its business model to focus on producing post-consumer recycled content resin and other sustainable polymer inputs such as hemp plastic and plastic from MSW.

Turning the Wheel of Innovation

Projects focused on the recovery of materials generated across the automotive life cycle and/or plastics supply chains.

• Edge Materials Management: Seek to expand to post-consumer materials, with an initial focus on agricultural and marine film plastic.

• GAIA Analytical Sciences: Developing a novel method for rapid road repair that includes a high percentage of scrap tire rubber in the mixture.

• NecoTech: Creating asphalt from mixed plastics that will be used for the replacement of deteriorating roads, bridges, and highways.

• Rampf Group Inc.: Seeks to test the efficacy of hot melt adhesives, produced from recycled PET, mixed with asphalt.

• ReCharge Recycling: Seeks to develop a phased approach to collect, discharge, test, refurbish and ultimately process and recycle lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and other sources.

• VMX International: Seeking to develop a recycling center in the city of Detroit focused on lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles.

NextCycle Michigan will be featured during three breakout sessions on May 12 during the 2022 MRC Conference.

1. EGLE LISTENING SESSION ON FUNDING PRIORITIES
   Matt Flechter, Michigan EGLE

   The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) supports infrastructure and market development, and NextCycle Michigan through the Renew Fund passed by the Legislature in 2018. Projects aimed at developing additional collection, processing, and marketing capacity, as well as creating and strengthening new connections to commodity markets are key to growing recycling efforts in Michigan. Join this facilitated discussion to build collective understanding about development needs in Michigan that will inform EGLE funding priorities in 2023 and beyond.

2. PILOTING A COMPOST DROP SITE IN THE CITY
   Claire Dion, City of Ferndale

   The City of Ferndale launched a one-year organics collection pilot program in November 2021 with MICROS funding through NextCycle Michigan. The program includes residential, commercial, and municipal participants utilizing various drop-off locations for a variety of organic materials. Learn about the details of the program, such as how equity was considered in design and how they managed the challenges that face small scale drop-offs. Explore data collected from 400 residential participants, see examples of educational materials, and hear the results from the participants' surveys. Hear about the future of the program and plans to expand composting to the whole community.

3. PROJECT ACCELERATION: TAKE YOUR INITIATIVE TO THE NEXT LEVEL
   Bryce Hesterman & Special Guest from NextCycle Michigan Program 

   It’s time to move beyond the talking and into the doing. Join this workshop-focused session on accelerating your initiatives to be implemented, investable, and have significant impact.  This session allows participants to explore some of the models used in the NextCycle Michigan Innovation Challenge Track programming to help ensure the new business start-ups, program enhancements, and infrastructure development projects are on the right track for success.

more information at MichiganRecycles.org.

Recycling market development has been around for decades; however, it has seen a resurgence since increased export restrictions have forced recyclers to look at quality issues in commodity bales. In an attempt to accelerate improvements to the recycling value chain and recycled content manufacturing, several states have developed recycling market centers or programs that have a goal of achieving an equitable circular economy that strives for zero waste and climate resiliency. One of those programs is NextCycle, a recycling market development program focused on innovation and partnership, championed by several states that accelerates ideas to an investment-ready stage.

During this session, you’ll learn about NextCycle and experience a live pitch competition, where teams that have been vetted and supported by the NextCycle process will pitch their recycling, composting and end market ideas. Join us and be a part of this exciting event to help support innovative ideas that are getting us closer to a true circular economy.

Session Timing/Agenda Breakdown:
NextCycle: Accelerating Equitable Circular Economies
Team Stories: Experiences from NextCycle Participants
Recycling Market Development Best Practices
Pitch Competition
Audience Voting/Judging Evaluation
Results and Final Winners Announced

more information at www.wasteexpo.com.