MGSSBF Forum: Advancing a Circular Economy in Michigan
Michigan’s Great Southwest Sustainable Business Forum is working to expand opportunities for Michigan businesses and institutions to participate in the development of a circular economy and decarbonize through investments in recycled content and lower carbon products and components.
This event will feature two of the state’s most exciting current investments in recycling infrastructure and circular design, and highlight additional work from Michigan Sustainable Business Forum and Whirlpool to advance the use of recycled content and other lower carbon materials.
The panel of experts is led by Darwin Baas, Director of Kent County Department of Public Works, who will introduce the Kent County Sustainable Business Park, a generational investment in the development of a circular economy in the region. The $370 million project recently signed an anchor tenant that in the near future will begin manufacturing building products and producing renewable energy from municipal solid waste.
Baas will be joined by Brianna Meeker, a project manager for the PADNOS Sustainability City, which is piloting new strategies to process post-consumer recycled content for use by local manufacturers. She will highlight specific examples from automotive and durable products, and discuss how this work supports the company’s investments in Southwest Michigan.
Whirlpool will provide an introduction to its efforts to incorporate recycled content and lower carbon materials into its products as part of its sustainability strategy.
The Forum has convened a multidisciplinary working group of industrial design influencers to forward collaboration between the design community and the industry to create a framework to provide expertise on the use and practical limitations of recycled content in manufacturing operations, supply chains, procurement and other end uses. The event will introduce the results of that work and share how local businesses are achieving success through demand-side solutions that incorporate post-consumer recycled materials.
Support for this event provided by a grant from the Renew Michigan Fund through Michigan Dept. of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy.