Welcome to the final episode of Waste Not, a podcast engaging start-ups, innovators, entrepreneurs in the RISN Incubator and the Circular Economy thought leaders that support them. We delve into the solutions being transformed from idea to products or services, and what it takes to overcome the challenges of being a circular economy change agent.

In this episode, we meet John Heckman, a managing partner with Anthesis Group and a leader in the sustainability space for more than 20 years. As a RISN Advisory Board Member, John is a nationally recognized innovator of using sustainability as a mechanism for improving business performance, and has over a hundred projects to his name.

This is Waste Not, a podcast engaging start-ups, innovators, entrepreneurs in the RISN Incubator and the Circular Economy thought leaders that support them. We delve into the solutions being transformed from idea to products or services, and what it takes to overcome the challenges of being a circular economy change agent.

In this episode, we meet Brandie Barrett, deputy public works director with the city of Phoenix. RISN partners with the city of Phoenix to give it’s ventures access to the waste streams and diversion methods the city manages every day, and Brandie has been integral with fostering that relationship. Before assuming deputy public works director, she held roles with various city divisions, including the city manager’s office and the library. Prior to her time with the city, Brandie worked with a Native American advocacy group, witnessing how tribal government is responsible for everything on a reservation, and giving her a holistic approach to civic health.

This is Waste Not, a podcast engaging start-ups, innovators, entrepreneurs in the RISN Incubator, and the Circular Economy thought leaders that support them. We delve into the solutions being transformed from idea to products or services, and what it takes to overcome the challenges of being a circular economy change agent.

In this episode, we meet RISN Incubator venture Blue Bridge Cooperative, which is working to help public and private entities keep fats, oils and grease out of our water and waste streams, and use those energy rich substances as resources.

This is Waste Not, a podcast engaging start-ups, innovators, entrepreneurs in the RISN Incubator and the Circular Economy thought leaders that support them. We delve into the solutions being transformed from idea to products or services, and what it takes to overcome the challenges of being a circular economy change agent.

In this episode, we travel to Lowell, Massachusetts to attend the Deshpande Symposium. Now 8 years running, the Deshpande Symposium is one of the largest gatherings of academics, policy makers and practitioners to share best methods of integrating entrepreneurship in higher education. RISN’s host institution, Arizona State University, is one of the main sponsors of the event, and it is where we introduce you to one of RISN Incubator’s Advisory Board members and principle investigator on the project for ASU, Ji Mi Choi. Choi is an associate vice president of Arizona State University with the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development and leads its Entrepreneurship and Innovation program.

This is Waste Not, a podcast engaging start-ups, innovators, entrepreneurs in the RISN Incubator, and the Circular Economy thought leaders that support them. We delve into the solutions being transformed from idea to products or services, and what it takes to overcome the challenges of being a circular economy change agent.

In this episode, we introduce you to RISN start-up Circonomy Solutions, a brand new startup focusing on consulting, project support and development, and promoting networking in the waste sector.

RISN Incubator venture Recyclops was featured with an op-ed in Waste Dive on May 8. In the piece, Recyclops CEO and Founder Ryan Smith makes the case that recycling needs greater accessibility to all Americans. Read the article for the full deep dive.

This is Waste Not, a podcast series from noted sustainability journalist and educator Dr. Andrew Bernier. Waste Not engages start-ups, innovators, entrepreneurs in the Resource Innovation and Solutions Network, and the Circular Economy thought leaders that support them. We delve into the solutions being transformed from idea to products or services, and what it takes to overcome the challenges of being a circular economy change agent.

In our introductory episode, we introduce you to the RISN Incubator and the team that drives it, Alicia Marseille and Amanda Jordan. But, we need to be clear about something first. This podcast isn’t about recycling. You should still absolutely recycle what you can and get familiar with what your local city and hauler accepts, but we’re looking at how to avoid the need to recycle in the first place by redesigning the nature of how we think and use material in our goods and services, and what goes into bringing those solutions to the marketplace.

The RISN Incubator is excited to announce the next group of ventures that were selected as finalists for our third cohort:

• FLI Right LLC
Co-founders Mark Hansen and Alice Murphy
FLI Right seeks to transform the future by building and leading an innovative coalition to develop, mature, demonstrate and transition technology solutions and services that directly impact the world’s greatest challenges.

• rePurpose
Co-founders Peter Wang Hjemdahl, Svanika Balasubramanian and Aditya Siroya
Founded at and backed by the University of Pennsylvania, rePurpose is a social enterprise that envisions a circular economy where responsibility is shared ethically by recyclers, manufacturers and consumers.

• Scrappy & Scraps Pet Treats
Founder George Gebran
The company’s mission is to harvest eggshells from local restaurants and hotels and bake them into its treats. This helps the foodservice industry lower its environmental impact, in turn, benefitting the ecosystem. The shells are pasteurized and ground into a fine powder for maximum absorption and help build strong bones and teeth, among other benefits.

• Recyclops
Founder Ryan Smith
Recyclops brings recycling to areas where it isn’t traditionally available. The company has been successful in bringing recycling to these areas by innovating and leveraging technology. By hiring independent contractors with pickup trucks and using a tech-driven smart routing app, the company has been able to eliminate many of the logistical problems that kept recycling from happening in these areas.

The ventures were brought together in downtown Phoenix for a three day immersion program March 25-27th as part of their onboarding process and cohort commencement. Over the course of the immersion program, the ventures had the opportunity to connect with other ventures in their cohort as well as ASU faculty, City of Phoenix staff, and other local experts and mentors on a variety of topics. The ventures learned about how to grow and scale their ventures through participation in a series of technical development workshops meant to guide them in establishing strategies to connect with the right people, networks, and resources during their incubation term as well as post-incubation.

The immersion program kicked off with a day-long workshop on Ethical Circular Economy where the ventures gained a better understanding of the requirements needed to shift to a circular economy including the creativity needed when rethinking designs, processes, and delivery methods. Furthermore, the ventures walked away with a better understanding of systems-thinking and systemic innovation which is essential as it requires one to recognize opportunities within a system to intervene and make an impact.

Day two of the program focused on the topics of The Art of a Well-Tailored Pitch, Strategic Partnership Building, and Raising Capital. Ventures were given one-on-one access to expert mentors from the City of Phoenix, The Recycling Partnership, The Sustainability Consortium, Envision Plastics, RSF Social Finance and Sorenson Impact where they were able to asked pointed questions relevant to their work and get real-world insights into the subject matter themes. The program concluded with workshops on Supply Chain Management and Product/Market Fit featuring expert mentors from W.P. Carey School of Business and Circonomy Solutions.

Learn more about each of these amazing innovators on the Ventures page.

In this edition of Catalyst, Arizona PBS puts a spotlight on RISN Incubator venture Hygiea and the way their company is disrupting how we traditionally collect and interact with waste. Hygiea is a startup led by Arizona State University engineering alumni and graduate students focused on driving efficiencies in the waste management industry through their unique technology and products. After noticing trash cans overflowing with waste on and off-campus, the Hygiea team was inspired to find a more innovative approach for those dealing with waste every day.

“During my time in Memorial Union [as an ASU student] just going to Starbucks, I saw that most of the trash cans were consistently full especially during peak hours and there was no feedback to the janitorial services team that the cans were getting full,” said Surya Iyer, Business Development Manager for Hygiea. So, we thought about how we would actually connect the worker to the trash can and how can we make this network more intelligent? From there we started working on our first prototype.”

For those whose job it is to keep track of dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of trash cans spread out over many miles, it is easy to see how time spent emptying and checking on the cans can start to add up and impact day-to-day activities. Hygiea believes this is a problem they can solve with their smart, efficient trash can sensors.