2024 Circular Economy Conference Registration Now Open!

Featuring all aspects of the Circular Economy in one unified, in-depth, multidisciplinary, action-based scientific conference.

The REMADE Institute, in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and with support from the U.S. Department of Energy, will host the second-annual REMADE Circular Economy Technology Summit & Conference on Wednesday and Thursday, April 10-11, 2024, at the National Academy of Sciences Building, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., in Washington, D.C.. This conference will serve as a national thought-leadership event on the Circular Economy.

The objective of the REMADE Circular Economy Technology Summit & Conference is to advance the national conversation on how a circular approach and sustainable manufacturing can support the nation’s efforts to meet its energy, environmental and economic goals.

The conference is open to REMADE members and non-members alike. It will feature experts highlighting emerging technologies and research that will advance and accelerate the nation’s transition to a Circular Economy.

SAVE THE DATE!

REMADE’S 2024 CIRCULAR ECONOMY CONFERENCE WILL TAKE PLACE APRIL 10-11, 2024, IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

REMADE is pleased to announce that our second annual REMADE Circular Economy Technology Summit & Conference will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, April 10-11, 2024, at the National Academy for Sciences Building, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., in Washington, D.C. Please reserve these dates in your calendar.

A Call for Papers for the 2024 Conference will be announced in the very near future. Conference registration will open soon afterward.

REMADE’s 2024 Conference is open to the public. Those interested in accelerating the transition to a Circular Economy in the United States are strongly encouraged to attend. Members of the media are also welcome.

We look forward to seeing you in April in D.C.!

REMADE Announces Call for Papers!

Bringing together, for the first time, all aspects of the Circular Economy into one unified, in-depth, multidisciplinary, action-based scientific conference

The REMADE Institute, in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will host the first REMADE Circular Economy Technology Summit & Conference in Washington, D.C. The conference will take place on Monday and Tuesday, March 20-21, 2023, at the National Academy of Sciences Building, 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., in the nation's capital. This conference will serve as a national thought-leadership event on the Circular Economy.

The objective of the REMADE Circular Economy Technology Summit & Conference is to advance the national conversation on a circular approach and how sustainable manufacturing can support the nation in meeting its multiple energy, environmental and economic goals.

The conference will be open to REMADE members and non-members alike. It will feature experts highlighting emerging technologies and research that will advance and accelerate the nation’s transition to a Circular Economy. REMADE’S annual Tech Summit, which is exclusive to members only, will take place on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at a separate venue. 

REMADE is excited about bringing all aspects of the Circular Economy together in one unified conference. To that end, REMADE is issuing a Call for Papers. Submissions from academic researchers, industry innovators, and others, including international experts, are strongly encouraged. Papers will be peer-reviewed and published in the conference proceedings, which will be available after the event.

For more detailed information on the REMADE Circular Economy Tech Summit & Conference, as well as the conference Call for Papers, which includes a list of topics and an anticipated schedule and deadlines, go to General Conference Info — The REMADE Institute.

Abstracts are due Wednesday, Nov. 16! We look forward to reviewing your submission.

R&D Project Spotlight: Recycling of Plastic for Sustainable Food Packaging

The food industry is a vital part of the U.S. economy, and the food packaging market has experienced double-digit growth in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical role that the food and packaging supply chain plays to ensure essential products continue reaching millions of consumers safely.

 At the same time, food packaging containers account for 30% of waste generation in the U.S., and less than 50% of this volume is currently recycled. That recycling rate falls to under 30%[1] for the types of multilayer food packaging targeted in this REMADE R&D project, including the brick-shaped cartons commonly used for a wide range of liquid foods including milk, juices, soups, sauces, and more. This multilayered packaging retains the product in a commercially sterile state for months or even years, but is difficult to recycle.

 The R&D project team is working to develop a process by which these multilayer materials can be replaced by a single mono-material packaging solution produced from up to 100% recycled PET (the same plastic that water bottles are made from), which can be recycled back into the same or comparable products with minimal reprocessing, handling, and transportation. The team is validating the performance of materials and manufacturing process at industrial scale and conducting a recycling pilot with the support of a material recycling facility (MRF) to quantify recycling rates and recycled material quality.

 Following the successful completion of the project, implementation is anticipated through the Ohio Safe Food & Packaging Initiative.

Project Participants:

[1] Source: PET Material Flows in the US (MM lbs) - Postconsumer PET Container Recycling Activity Report by NAPCOR and APR.

R&D Project Spotlight: Transitioning to a Circular Economy for PET and Olefin Polymers

Today, the U.S. only recycles 8.4 percent of the plastic waste that is collected. Although new advanced mechanical and chemical recycling technologies hold the promise of a closed-loop circular economy for plastics in the near-term, the anticipated economic, environmental, and societal benefits of a closed loop system are still not well understood.

With a focus on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and olefin plastics, which together comprise nearly two thirds of U.S plastic production, the R&D project team successfully built a model that evaluated how the manufacturing and recycling processes in a plastics circular economy can be configured to minimize energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The model predicted that it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 24% compared to current recycling approaches.

In the next phase of the R&D project, the team is expanding the model to include material flow analyses, material transportation and logistics analyses, recycling process modeling, energy and environmental life cycle assessments, techno-economic analyses, and regional / national economic studies.

The model will be validated with a case study in the state of Michigan in close collaboration with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). The modeling simulation will be developed using CHEMCAD and UniSim, allowing results to be disseminated broadly to accelerate the U.S. transition a circular economy for PET and Olefin polymers. Doing so would save material, energy, and emissions associated with plastic recycling and close the annual gap of more than 1 billion pounds between the current U.S. supply and projected 2025 demand for recycled PET (rPET) for use in bottles.

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Project Participants:

R&D Project Spotlight: Vehicle Design for High-Value Recycling of Aluminum

The embodied energy of vehicles is increasing as energy‐intensive materials such as aluminum auto body sheet (ABS) are used to deliver improved performance. Unfortunately, the current system cannot effectively recycle automotive aluminum at end-of life (EOL) because the shredded aluminum is frequently contaminated with steel rivets, steel alloys, and copper wiring. As a result, 90% of auto shred aluminum is exported and downcycled.

In addition, the shift to electric vehicles (EVs) will increase the demand for high‐quality aluminum ABS and advanced high strength steels (AHSS) for light weighting, double the amount of copper wire (thereby increasing end-of-life contamination), and potentially reduce demand for vehicle castings that could utilize the lower quality scrap.

To address these end-of-life issues upfront, the R&D project team is developing a new design for recycling tool that considers how vehicle design, recycling system infrastructure, and sheet manufacturing process decisions impact factors such as EOL recycled content, closed and open‐loop recycling rates, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and primary feedstock consumption and energy demand under different scenarios from 2020‐2050 (e.g. rapid deployment of EVs).

The tool will be integrated into the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) GREET model, which is already widely used by the car industry to quantify environmental impacts. Once developed and implemented, this tool has the potential to reduce the consumption of primary steel and aluminum by 2.35 million metric tons (MMT) and 0.19 MMT, respectively.

Project Lead

Project Participants

REMADE R&D Project Featured in The Verge story, “Scientists are building an AI-powered robot to take apart your old phone”

A new REMADE research and development project, announced as part of RFP5 awards on Dec. 1, 2021, was featured in a story in The Verge titled, “Scientists are building an AI-powered robot to take apart your old phone.” The R&D project, “Improving Recycling Efficiency of Portable Electronics by Automating Battery Disassembly,” is led by Idaho National Laboratory and is comprised of project team members University at Buffalo, Iowa State University, and e-waste recycler Sunnking. According to the story, “if such technology can be commercialized, researchers are hopeful it could vastly improve the recycling of smartphones and other small, portable electronics.”

Scrap News: REMADE Extends Deadline for EWD Proposals

REMADE’s Letter of Intent deadline for our latest RFP is fast approaching. Learn more about our RFP to grow U.S. manufacturing and accelerate the U.S.’s transition to the Circular Economy in the June 23 Scrap News story below. The article, written by Dan Hockensmith, includes a statement from REMADE CEO Nabil Nasr, information on the education and workforce development topic areas of the RFP, and ISRI's involvement with REMADE, including their project selected from the fourth round of funding. Read more:

REMADE Increases Latest Round of Funding to $50M+

REMADE issued its fifth RFP last month, initially representing $45 million in available funding. Today, we are pleased to announce that that amount has now been increased to more than $50 million. Companies, universities and organizations that have research or workforce development projects that might align with REMADE’s RFP are strongly encouraged to submit an LOI next week.

Scrap News: REMADE RFP to Promote American Manufacturing, Circular Economy

REMADE’s Letter of Intent deadline for our latest RFP is fast approaching. Learn more about our RFP to grow U.S. manufacturing and accelerate the U.S.’s transition to the Circular Economy in the May 14 Scrap News story below. The article, written by Hannah Zuckerman, includes an interview with REMADE CEO Nabil Nasr, information on the transformational and traditional research and development topic areas of the RFP, details on the education and workforce development component of the RFP, and insights into how REMADE’s work will enable the U.S. to meet the nation’s aggressive climate goals. Read more:

Rochester Business Journal: Sustainable Manufacturing Gaining Popularity in the Industry

Dr. Nabil Nasr Named Fellow by the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers

The REMADE Institute is proud to announce that our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Nabil Nasr, has been named a Fellow by the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (iise.org), the organization’s highest honor. The designation recognizes outstanding leaders who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial and systems engineering. Nasr will be recognized by IISE during its virtual conference on May 24.

Nasr is a renowned international leader in sustainable manufacturing, remanufacturing, and the Circular Economy. He has served as an expert delegate for the federal government in several international forums and is a member of the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Resource Panel. He is also a trustee of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in North America.

“I am honored and humbled to be recognized by IISE, a professional society I joined as a student a long time ago,” said Nasr. “From teaching to management and technology development, I have continually focused on applying the system thinking and approaches that IISE promotes.”

IISE is the world's largest professional society dedicated solely to the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving quality and productivity. Founded in 1948, IISE is an international, nonprofit association that provides leadership for the application, education, training, research, and development of industrial engineering.

Scrap News: REMADE Announces 24 Projects from Latest Round of Funding, New RFP in April

REMADE partner UMass Lowell’s researchers work toward green economy