A pitch competition held this month served to advance Michigan's circular economy by awarding $51,600 in prize money to companies for recycling and resource recovery projects. Some of the participants in this competition have also received grants from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The EGLE's 2022 grants total more than $2M, according to the announcement.
The EGLE's NextCycle Michigan initiative hosted the pitch competition, called the Troy Showcase, during the Michigan Recycling Coalition’s (MRC) Season of Innovation: Fall into Recycling event in early October.
A $10,000 award, called the Resource Recycling Systems Best in Show Award, was given to BSG Tire Recycling, Detroit, and Porous Pave, Grant, for their efforts to transform tire scrap material into rubber mulch that will then be used for pathways and public areas around Detroit.
Recharge Recycling, Fenton, was presented with the $10,000 Centrepolis Accelerator Award for lithium-ion battery collection and recycling in Flint.
VMX International, Detroit; Benton Harbor Collaboration; Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit; and American Classic, Greenville, were each awarded $7,500 following their successful presentations during the competition. The award given to VMX International supports efforts to develop a recycling center in Detroit for processing lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles.
The 2022 EGLE grants, which are separate from the Troy Showcase, total $2.28 million. Recipients of these grants included companies that participated in the pitch competition as well as another contest that took place in Ann Arbor earlier this year.
Goodwill Industries of West Michigan, Muskegon, received the largest grant—a total of $500,000—for a joint venture with HydroBlox Technologies (based in Pennsylvania). The companies will collaborate to convert plastic waste into a recycled content stormwater management system.
The EGLE awarded $367,000 to a company called Glacier that develops robotic sorters. According to the team at Glacier, the robots will recover as much as 950 tons of commodities per year at materials recovery facilities operated by the Resource Recovery and Recycling Authority of Southwest Oakland County (RRRASOC) and Southeastern Oakland County Resource Recovery Authority (SOCRRA) and will help to mitigate labor shortages.
Nearly $300,000 was awarded to Noble Polymers, Grand Rapids. The company received $295,641 to support the diversion of mixed curbside residential plastics from landfills. Noble Polymers will also use the funds to develop and compound recycled plastics for manufacturing applications.
Check out the press release from Michigan.gov to read more about the other grant recipients and their efforts to reuse or recycle materials.