The proverbial “knights” of the circular economy round table come together with the RISN Incubator to collaborate on their solutions for the future of a zero waste Phoenix.
The RISN Incubator was created with a unique partnership in mind. One that would allow for collaboration between public and private industries, and for the ultimate success of circular economy. This is the RISN Incubator’s unique partnership with the City of Phoenix, which allows ventures direct access to the city’s resources and own staff and creates collaboration on a whole new scale. On October 25th, business ventures in the incubator met with the city’s public works department in the first of many round tables.
During the meeting, 7 ventures were present, which included Blue Green Recycle, Bites, Global Guardian Project, Hygeia, Renewology, Nektar Energy, and Trash Zero. Of these ventures, 3 are actively pursuing partnerships and pilot projects with the City of Phoenix to convert waste to energy and convert waste to useful construction materials.
The meeting was started by Ginger Spencer, the head of Public Works for Phoenix. She shared the city’s Reimagine Phoenix initiative to increase waste diversion to 40% by the year 2020. She also described the city’s vision beyond 2020. They recognize that landfills and waste need to become a thing of the past, to guarantee a viable future for future generations, and shared the city’s goal to become zero waste by 2050. Ginger was joined by other members of the city which included Brandie Barrett, Lucas Mariacher, Chuck Hamstra, and Joe Guidice. Brandie discussed how the city restructured its policy to allow new businesses to set up projects with the city and use their waste. Lucas shared the city’s zero waste goals and current education and outreach projects. Chuck and Joe provided their expertise on how the city’s waste collection and sorting currently works.
After introductions from the city, ventures were able to ask questions during a Q-and-A session to the panel of experts and stakeholders they need. Businesses like Renewology and Nektar Energy sought out how to start pilot projects with the city to take their more troublesome waste materials and convert them into energy with no emissions. Hygeia aims to use sorting technologies to make trash collection more efficient. Other ventures like Blue Green Recycle and Global Guardian Project wanted to know how they can work with the city to educate consumers on how and what to recycle. Bites, a foodie app, sought out advice on how to connect with small, urban, and local farmers to stop food waste from even happening in the first place.
All in all, the first round table was a hit, and a great start to the future of collaboration between public and private industries, united to achieve circular economy. The next City of Phoenix/RISN Incubator Round Table will be held on Tuesday, November 21st at 2 PM.