UL and the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development have agreed to support the expansion of US BCSD's Materials Marketplace and help companies secure recognition for reuse through third-party certification.

ATLANTA- December 10, 2019 – The US Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD) has entered into an agreement with UL to support the expansion of the Materials Marketplace and help companies secure recognition for reuse through third-party certification.

As part of the agreement, UL and US BCSD will work to extend third-party validation services such as UL’s standards for circularity, recycled content and waste diversion, to members of the Material Marketplace, which will help them demonstrate recognition for their efforts to help create a more circular economy. The organizations will collaborate on market education and outreach efforts to continue to “expand the circle” and drive development and scale of new reuse and recycling market opportunities with business and industry in the US.

“The idea that a company can find value in something that another does not need is one aspect of what makes the circular economy so popular across industries and sectors,” said Catherine Sheehy, global lead of sustainability partnerships for UL’s Environment & Sustainability division. “The US BCSD’s Materials Marketplace facilitates the need to find and create value from materials that would normally be considered waste on an industrial level, and UL can support their clients through auditing and validation services that strengthen and support the growth of that marketplace by creating added value in the transactions to all parties involved.”

“This agreement advances the US BCSD and UL’s shared goals of enabling new opportunities for economic growth that do not depend solely on extracting more raw materials or buying new,” said Andrew Mangan, executive director of the US Business Council for Sustainable Development. He continued, “The marketplace helps scale reuse and generates cost savings, energy savings, and helps create new jobs. This collaboration with UL offers the more than 2,000 participants the chance to amplify the success of these efforts through science-based validation from UL and facilitate access to those are searching for more circular products and services from more sustainable organizations.”

About UL

UL helps create a better world by applying science to solve safety, security and sustainability challenges. We empower trust by enabling the safe adoption of innovative new products and technologies. Everyone at UL shares a passion to make the world a safer place. All of our work, from independent research and standards development, to testing and certification, to providing analytical and digital solutions, helps improve global well-being. Businesses, industries, governments, regulatory authorities and the public put their trust in us so they can make smarter decisions. To learn more, visit UL.com.

About the US Business Council for Sustainable Development

The US BCSD is an action-oriented and member-led nonprofit business association, founded in 1992 to give leading US businesses a platform to mobilize boots on the ground and work together to design, implement and scale sustainability solutions. Business-led platforms, projects and partnerships are helping leading companies scale solutions to ecosystems, cities, circular economy and water challenges. Since 2014, the US BCSD’s Circular Economy platform has led development of the Materials Marketplace - an award-winning regional and national platform that connects businesses to develop and scale new reuse and recycling market opportunities. Manufacturers are using the Marketplace to source materials and find new solutions for challenging wastes and by-products, recycling companies are uncovering new customers and end-markets, and entrepreneurs are using the program as an innovation platform to build new reuse and recycling businesses. Learn more at https://usbcsd.org.

Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations is a a full-service electronics and materials lifecycle management company with locations in Nashville, TN and Wisconsin. Dynamic has been working through the Materials Marketplace to find new end users and end markets for materials they recover and process.

Click here to read more about Dynamic’s experience with the Materials Marketplace, and how they’re on track to save over $25,000 per year on just one consumable item!

The Materials Marketplace can help your company identify new customers and new buyers for collected/processed material, find new solutions for challenging waste and by-product materials, and assist with sourcing recycled feedstocks to help reach recycled content and sustainability goals. Click here to get involved today!

Thursday, December 12, 2019 at 2:00pm CST

Tennessee manufacturers are more motivated than ever to integrate post-industrial and post-consumer material into supply chains, and to keep waste and by-products out of landfills. The Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation (TDEC), Tennessee Recycling Coalition (TRC), and the US Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD) are working with a broad range of stakeholders to drive the development of Tennessee’s circular economy and recirculate materials back productively into the economy.

In this webinar, we’ll dive into the Tennessee Materials Marketplace - a program that connects Tennessee organizations to develop and scale new reuse and recycling market opportunities. Manufacturers are using the Marketplace to source materials and find new solutions for challenging wastes and by-products, recycling companies are uncovering new customers and end-markets, and entrepreneurs are using the program as an innovation platform to build new reuse and recycling businesses. Education providers, governments, nonprofits, and artists are also participating to “connect the dots” between organizations that have materials available and those that need them.

Attendees will learn how to get engaged, hear updates from 2019 program successes, and hear how TDEC and TRC are engaging with manufacturers in the state. We'll discuss materials and process trends, how to post listings and tips on marketing materials for success, and provide guidance for interacting with other businesses through the Marketplace program. Additionally, TDEC will discuss the state’s sustainability assistance programs for the manufacturing sector, Tennessee Green Star Partnership and Tennessee Sustainable Spirits programs as well as recent pollution prevention outreach activities.

Who should attend: Operations and plant managers at Tennessee businesses producing waste and by-product materials; purchasing and R&D roles at manufacturers looking to source post-consumer and post-industrial materials; recycling, remanufacturing and materials processing solution providers; recycling companies looking to develop new end-markets; organizations supporting Tennessee’s circular economy and sustainable business practices; and entrepreneurs interested in building new reuse and recycling businesses in Tennessee.

Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner David Salyers announced the winners of the 2019 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards. The winners were formally recognized for their achievements and positive impact on the state’s natural resources and communities in an awards ceremony in Franklin on August 1.

“We applaud those who proactively look internally at their own operations and capabilities to better our environment,” Lee said. “Tennessee is fortunate to have these passionate and innovative organizations committed to improving our state.”

The Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards program recognizes exceptional voluntary actions that improve or protect our environment and natural resources with projects or initiatives not required by law or regulation.

In its 33rd year, the awards program covers nine categories: building green; clean air; energy and renewable resources; environmental education and outreach; environmental education and outreach (school category); land use; materials management; natural heritage; and sustainable performance.

“The projects and organizations recognized by this year’s Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards reflect the best of environmental protection, conservation, community engagement, and partnerships,” Salyers said. “These award winners are taking the initiative to go above and beyond what is required.”

The 2019 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award recipients are: The Compost Fairy, Cumberland International, Cumberland River Compact, Mitchell Heights Neighborhood Association, Norris Water Commission, Ruby Falls, Tennsco Corporation, Turnip Green Creative Reuse, and Urban Green Lab.

Additionally, Belmont University in Nashville is recognized with a Pursuit of Excellence award, which recognizes past award winners who continue to demonstrate a high regard for environmental stewardship.

A panel of 16 professionals representing agricultural, conservation, forestry, environmental and academic professionals judged more than 65 nominations and selected this year’s award recipients based on criteria including on-the-ground environmental achievement, innovation, transferability, partnerships, and public education.

Florim USA and Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations connect through the Tennessee Materials Marketplace to close the loop on end-of-life materials

Americans dispose of some 10 million metric tons of reusable materials, like glass, annually. Most of it ends up in the landfill, and only about one-third gets recycled. That’s not because of some intrinsic materials or chemical property that makes materials like plastic and glass difficult to recycle, but rather a reflection of a very challenging interplay between collection processes, market supply and demand, and rising freight costs to move material in the US.

“Glass is 100% recyclable,” says Robert Weisenburger Lipetz, executive director of the Glass Manufacturing Industry Council (GMIC), a nonprofit trade association. “It has an unlimited life and can be melted and recycled endlessly to make new glass products with no loss in quality,” he adds.

The difficulty is that most processes that can use recycled glass need it to be clean, sorted by color, and/or meet some minimal contamination requirements. This is difficult for our single-stream recycling systems in the US to produce. Glass is also very heavy, making it difficult for manufacturers to source recycled glass at a manageable cost.

That being said, there are some very creative companies right here in Tennessee finding ways to “mine” this valuable material.

Photo courtesy of Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations

In Clarksville, TN, Florim USA is producing large format porcelain tiles that offer surfaces for all requirements in architecture, interior design and building construction. The American subsidiary of the Florim Group, based in Italy, Florim USA is one of the largest and most technologically advanced porcelain facilities in North America. The process they use is considered “closed-loop,” with all waste generated throughout the six processing operations recycled back through the system.

Not only that, but they can and do utilize a variety of post-consumer and post-industrial materials as a raw material in their tiles, replacing various virgin raw materials. They are committed to producing high-quality products in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner, constantly exploring the latest technological advances and best management practices. Active material exploration is one reason they are an engaged participant in the Tennessee Materials Marketplace.

"At Florim we are focused on the environment and its sustainability. Post-consumer material is an aspect of the process that Don Haynes and his team have been working on for several years. We are now very proud to be able to use post-consumer materials in all of our tiles," said Marco Fregni, CEO at Florim USA.

Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations is a full-service electronics and materials lifecycle management company with locations in Onalaska, Wisconsin and Nashville, Tennessee. They have years of experience managing the unique risks and regulations of organizations seeking to safely participate in recycling, while safeguarding sensitive data and protecting the environment from e-waste and other pollutants by closing the loop for all sorts of electronic devices.

One of the challenges Dynamic has managed to tackle is end-of-life materials from electronics. Dynamic utilizes a proprietary process to separate the different kinds of components of electronic wastes, and as a result is producing millions of pounds of recyclable materials in clean commodity form.

Dynamic is also an active user on the Tennessee Materials Marketplace. While working on the platform to identify opportunities for buying used gaylord boxes, they noticed that Florim USA had posted a “wanted material” listing detailing specific post-consumer materials they could use in their manufacturing process. Once connected, it didn’t take long for the two parties to see the potential for a reuse application, especially as they began to explore the logistics of the deal.

Dynamic’s trucks regularly make the trip from Wisconsin to their location in Nashville, TN to pick up recyclable items needing special processing. They can now make one productive loop - taking full truckloads of material south, and returning north with full truckloads of materials from their Nashville facility.

Both companies see this as a significant win, the regions they serve and for the Tennessee Materials Marketplace. The application makes financial sense, environmental sense and it demonstrates how important the right connections can be. As often happens, both companies are beginning to explore other materials and improved methods of delivery and packaging that will smooth the process even more.

Is your company looking to source by-products and recycled materials to use in your products, or establish new end-markets for existing materials? The Tennessee Materials Marketplace may be able to help. It’s quick and easy to get engaged - click here get set up in our program today.

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About Dynamic LIfecycle Innovations

• Website: thinkdynamic.com

• Facebook: click here

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About Florim USA

• Website: www.milestonetiles.com

• Facebook: click here

Join the Tennessee Materials Marketplace Linkedin Group to connect with other program participants and get engaged in curated discussions on the circular economy in Tennessee. Click here to join the group!

If you have not heard of ISO 14001, you probably will. Companies doing business with Fortune 1000 and/or global entities are more frequently seeing it required. Good news is that it is not a burdensome, costly initiative and it has significant potential benefits. There is much you can do on your own and lots of assistance available.

ISO 14001 has become the international standard for designing and implementing an environmental management system. The standard is published by ISO (the International Organization for Standardization), an international body that creates and distributes standards that are accepted worldwide. ISO 14001 provides a framework that an organization can follow, rather than establishing environmental performance requirements. It is a voluntary standard that you can certify to.

An environmental management system (EMS), is comprised of the policies, processes, plans, practices and records that define how your company interacts with the environment. This system needs to be tailored to your particular company, because only your company will have the exact legal requirements and environmental interactions that match your specific business processes. However, the ISO 14001 provides a framework for creating your EMS so that you do not miss important elements needed for it to be successful. As you set waste-related objectives and targets, the Materials Marketplace may be one tool you use to pursue continual improvement.

These days it would be hard to debate the merits of having a plan when it comes to the environmental impact of a facility’s operation. Beyond the priceless payback associated with employee morale and public image, there is hard ROI associated with regulatory risk mitigation and savings from better managing energy, water and waste. There are many examples of this. What’s more is some of the largest companies are actually requiring ISO 14001 certification in order to be a supplier. This is most notable with the automotives and their supply chain.

ISO 14001 is really about making a good plan and managing to it. If you need help, let us know, there are many connections we can help you make and managing your material streams with the Materials Marketplace is a great way to start!

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Recycling and reuse market development requires a diverse ecosystem of material generators, aggregators, processors, consumers, and advocates. That ecosystem is on the cusp of flourishing in Tennessee; where a truly fascinating mix of startups, nonprofits and manufacturers are beginning to work together through the Tennessee Materials Marketplace to move the needle on landfill diversion and sustainable materials management.

Bob Zak and Daniel Kietzer with the Tennessee Materials Marketplace team zig-zagged from Memphis to Nashville to Morrison in early March ‘19 to meet with a handful of businesses and organizations working with the Materials Marketplace to hear firsthand about what’s working well and needs scale, and learn about challenges companies have today in leveraging materials reuse and recycling in their business. Here are a few highlights from the trip:

I'm in Tennessee this week meeting with companies and organizations in the Tennessee #MaterialsMarketplace to talk about #recycling market development, #reuse, and product #innovation and #entrepreneurship. https://t.co/flPQBnvece pic.twitter.com/kuLZShdcd6

— Daniel Kietzer (@dkietzer) March 7, 2019

Clean Memphis and Urban Green Lab

Clean Memphis has been working in the Memphis community since 2008 - organizing cleanups, providing programming like Project Green Fork, and advocating for reuse and recycling in the region. Clean Memphis’ Executive Director, Janet Boscarino, was introduced to the Tennessee Materials Marketplace by Devin James at Refurban, and will be another important connector for the program in West Tennessee.

In the Nashville area, we met with Urban Green Lab, a nonprofit doing important work in the community to eliminate waste in classrooms, households, and workplaces. Urban Green Lab’s Sustainable Classrooms Program trains teachers on how to integrate sustainability into the classroom, and their Corporate Roundtable brings Nashville-area companies together to learn, network, foster new skills and policies, inform leadership, and exchange best practices to make sustainable workplaces a priority. We’re working with Urban Green Lab to integrate the Materials Marketplace into some of their programming and get the word out to Nashville businesses.

TDEC’s Small Business Environmental Assistance Program, and Office of Policy & Sustainable Practices

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has been a long-time leader in the circular economy at the state level. In addition to being an early supporter of the Materials Marketplace, TDEC programs and resources have long supported small businesses and large manufacturers alike to take steps to better manage materials. Daniel and Bob met with Dr. Ronne Adkins, Regional Director of External Affairs in TDEC’s Memphis Field Office and Director of TDEC’s Small Business Environmental Assistance Program to align our efforts. SBEAP stands out as an especially useful program for small businesses; working almost like a free, outsourced EHS department in a way. Definitely get in touch with them if you’re a small business and need assistance understanding and complying with environmental regulations.

Vaughn Cassidy (Office of Policy and Sustainable Practices) has worked closely with the Materials Marketplace since the beginning. OPSP conducts environmental policy research and analysis; and provides technical guidance to business, industry, and other public entities to promote environmental stewardship. Vaughn has worked with manufacturers all over the state, and has been an important conduit between TDEC, business and the Materials Marketplace resource.

Living Lands & Waters

We’re ready to welcome our third and final group of alternative spring breakers tonight! Can you guess how many pounds we’ve pulled in just the first two weeks? 😳 #onemillioninoneyear #keepitclean pic.twitter.com/Q2XItSXPrV

— Living Lands & Waters (@LLandW) March 17, 2019

Living Lands & Waters is a truly one-of-a-kind "industrial strength" river cleanup operation. Founder Chad Pregracke, the LL&W crew and an army of volunteers (over 110,000 to date) have removed over 10 million pounds of waste from US rivers, including riverbank areas in and near Memphis. Chad happened to be in Memphis with over 100 volunteers for their annual Alternative Spring Break while we were in town, and we had a few minutes to jump on a boat and meet him on the LL&W barge. In addition to these clean up activities, manufacturers are also working with LL&W to find new homes for the waste they remove from the river. We learned that many of the materials recovered from this particular operation will be destined for some really cool recycling applications - follow them on online to find out more.

Large Manufacturers

We also had meetings and site visits with companies including Fedex, Dal Tile, Cascades/IFC Disposables and others to get a look at some specific manufacturing by-products, materials sourcing, and challenges with reuse and recycling in today’s market. All of these manufacturers are engaged in the conversation as a part of both operational and/or sustainability goals to reduce cost, drive value, and create positive environmental impact. Keep an eye on the Materials Marketplace in the coming weeks to get a look at some really interesting (and high value) materials streams from a few of these companies.

Insights from these companies on some high-level barriers - including data/waste audit gaps, true cost accounting for waste disposal, and others - may also open some additional program services in the coming months. Stay tuned!

TheCO - Driving Innovation

TheCO in Jackson, TN was one of our favorite stops during this trip through Tennessee. Coworking + makerspace. Entrepreneur community. Technology education leader. Economic development catalyst. All made in Jackson. Check out their website and some of their projects to learn more about what they do - it really is incredible. We’re hoping we can get some Materials Marketplace materials into the hands of their creative entrepreneur community!

Green Solutions: Small Business Expo in Warren County

To wrap up our trip, on March 8th we joined Bridgestone and the Warren County Discard Discussion group at their first Green Solutions Small Business Expo. The Discard Discussion group has had quite a bit of success over the last two years helping local businesses in the area find ways to save money on waste disposal and material acquisition, and we’re keen to combine the technology capabilities of the Materials Marketplace with their engaged local network to push their impact even higher.

How you can Get Engaged

If you haven’t created an account yet on the Materials Marketplace, we encourage you to hit this link and get engaged with our growing network today. Whether you’re on the supply side, demand side, a material processor, an entrepreneur, or reuse advocate - there’s an important role for you to play in building out Tennessee’s circular economy ecosystem.

Rescue your floor space, guilt and risk free.

Empty totes take up space, not just in your facility but also in our overcrowded landfills. You can use the Tennessee Materials Marketplace to help get them out of your way, knowing they will be given another life or disposed of properly.

It is simple and risk free to find out if this will work for you and your totes. Create a free listing to get started in the Marketplace and provide some information on your totes (or any other items you’d like to see reused). Once the items are posted, you’ll start to receive inquiries. When you like an offer, take it. If not, you can take your totes listing and go home. No risk.

Generator of Material: The J.M. Smucker Company in Lexington, KY

Amount of Material: 3-4 tons annually

Material Diverted: Shrink wrap plastic film, on a cardboard core

Receiver of Material: Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations in Nashville, TN

Environmental Impact: 12-13 metric tons of CO2 equivalent savings

Total Savings and Value Creation: $10,500 per year

Respect for the environment has been a focus of The J.M. Smucker Company since its founding in 1897. Smucker has established specific environmental goals to reduce its impacts related to waste, water and greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, including diverting 95 percent of waste from landfills. To help reach these goals, the Lexington team joined the Materials Marketplace.

The plant had been working to find alternatives for the discarded film rolls from their shrink wrap machines. The mostly-spent rolls still have valuable material on them but because the film is still on a cardboard core, it is too costly to be processed by their current recycler.

When they posted these shrink wrap rolls to the Materials Marketplace, they were discovered by Dynamic. Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations is a full-service electronics and materials lifecycle management company providing solutions for IT asset disposition, electronics recycling, product refurbishment, remarketing and more with locations in Onalaska, WI; Nashville, TN.; and Minneapolis, MN. Dynamic is dedicated to protecting the environment by keeping reusable materials out of the world’s waste streams and believed they could use the discarded rolls to replace new rolls they purchase to package goods for delivery. When they have used all they can, the leftover film and the core are ethically recycled. Even more, they are able to work with Smucker to pick up the material on backhaul trips by their fleet.

By diverting these spent rolls, Smucker is able to get closer to their overall goals and realize cost savings from the 3-4 tons of material going to landfill. Dynamic is able to put that material to beneficial use and save around $10,000 per year in new film purchases. This reuse application results in a reduction of 12 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

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We have over 130 materials listings in the Tennessee Materials Marketplace from across Tennessee, including:

PP Regrind

PET Polyester Airbag Scrap

Hard Slag and Granulated Slag

PP/PE Bottle Caps Regrind

Wood Mulch

Milling Dust

Interested in any of these materials? You can sign up for the Tennessee Materials Marketplace free of charge and quickly get in touch with these materials' owners. Head over to our join page and sign up today.

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What's in the Marketplace?

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Companies have created listings for a variety of materials so far, including:

• Rubber By-products
• Hand Carts
• Large Transformers
• Agricultural Lime
• Scrap Pallets and Wood
• Electric Motors

• Caged Totes
• Plastic Films
• HDPE Plastic
• Cardboard
• Fabric Scraps

Interested in any of these materials? You can sign up for the Tennessee Materials Marketplace free of charge and quickly get in touch with these materials' owners. Head over to our join page and sign up today.

New circular economy program connects businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs to uncover and implement new creative solutions for hard-to-recycle wastes and by-products

Franklin, Tennessee - August 14, 2017: The US Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation today announced the launch of a new online platform that allows for circular reuse of products and materials that might otherwise be destined for disposal in landfills. Through the cloud-based Tennessee Materials Marketplace, traditional and non-traditional waste streams are matched with new product and revenue opportunities, ultimately enabling the culture shift to a circular, closed-loop economy. 

Tennessee is the second state in the US to adopt a circular economy program of this scope and scale; and joins an international network of Materials Marketplace projects already underway across the globe, including the Ohio and Austin Materials Marketplaces, US Materials Marketplace, and the Turkey Materials Marketplace.

In addition to facilitating reuse matches, the program also allows for collaborations to be made between Tennessee’s larger manufacturers working towards zero-landfill and highest and best use of materials like General Motors and American Snuff, and agile and innovative small and medium-sized businesses. 

Over the past 20 years, Materials Marketplace projects spearheaded by the US BCSD and scale-up partner Pathway21 have engaged hundreds of companies - large and small - academic institutions, nonprofits and entrepreneurs around the world. Andrew Mangan, Founder and Executive Director of the US BCSD, says “Many businesses and organizations in Tennessee are challenging the traditional take-make-dispose model; the Materials Marketplace is an important enabler to move this new circular thinking into action.”

Additional Background/How to Get Involved:

• Visit the program's website at http://tennessee.materialsmarketplace.org for more information and steps for how to get involved. It's a quick and easy process.
• Participation is free for any company or organization with operations in or near the state that wants to explore new opportunities to transform by-product/waste materials into new products, or secure recycled material streams to reduce use of virgin feedstocks.
• The US BCSD manages the Tennessee Materials Marketplace, with initial funding support from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. 

The Materials Marketplace is an award-winning regional and national platform to facilitate company-to-company industrial reuse. Through the cloud-based platform, traditional and non-traditional industrial waste streams are matched with new product and revenue opportunities, ultimately enabling the culture shift to a circular, closed-loop economy.

Through its Do Your Part program, General Motors is turning recycled water bottles into car parts, air filters, and insulation for coats for the homeless. In this video, GM's global manager of waste reduction, John Bradburn, explains how the process works. For more information, visit http://DoYourPart.GM.green.