SOAR 2024: Collaboration is key to circular solutions

Collaboration was key during a panel at this year’s Sustainability Operations Action Resources (SOAR) event, an annual convention for Silver Spring, Maryland-based Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), which ran April 15-18 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Speakers including Tyler Eglen of Arizona State University’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Service; Cody Marshall of The Recyling Partnership (TRP), Washington; Jake Taylor of Partnership for Economic Innovation and Amanda Jordan from the city of Phoenix spoke on Phoenix’s unique and innovative approach sustainability in a panel discussion led by Mariatu Kabba, founder of the nonprofit organization Strong Women, Strong Girls Sierra Leone.

In Phoenix, collaboration between the public sector, industry partners, universities and other stakeholders has provided opportunities, including a 3D printing initiative, redevelopment of a closed landfill into a food innovation center and more.

“Residents tell us they want us to become the most sustainable desert city on the planet,” says Jordan, circular economy project manager for the city of Phoenix. "Phoenix has done a great job in recognizing collaboration is crucial to achieving sustainability goals. We don’t know everything, so we lean into partners who have these pockets of knowledge that we don’t.”

A first-of-its kind plastic recycling microfactory operating in coordination with Arizona State and the city of Phoenix will convert polypropylene and polyethylene collected and sorted by Goodwill into pellets to make new products, such as compressed lumber and skateboard decks.

Using grant funding from TRP, the Phoenix North Gateway transfer station replaced outdated optical sorting equipment with a new state-of-the-art optical sorter dedicated to polypropylene. Next door, compost facility at the city’s Resource Innovation Campus transforms food waste into compost using a turned aerated pile system that process up to 55,000 tons of compost per year.

And in of Surprise, Arizona, a grant awarded through QBE AcceliCITY helped put in a network of 3D printers that can transform recycled plastics into anything from a catalog of tens of thousands of available products.

In Phoenix, one problem they’ve faced is distance, Taylor says. Geographically, the Greater Phoenix area is 10 times larger than New York City.

“If you want an individual to benefit from these programs, or participate at all, we begin talking about the path of least resistance. Yes, you’re going to travel to do this,” Taylor says, “But in return, you are going to receive a greater economic benefit in the form of whatever it is you print.”

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As the waste stream continues to evolve, technology can be an important tool in the toolbox, Marshall says. Advances in automation and artificial intelligence is allowing operators to capture more information about the material that’s coming through facilities, everything from color and shape to brand, to better understand the waste stream and how to manage it.

When it comes to the ability to invest in innovative equipment, part of the potential in Phoenix, as anywhere, depends on funding. Marshall says TRP was built with the understanding that recycling has historically fallen on the shoulders of local government, and collecting recycling at scale does not pay for itself.

A decade ago, the only money available was from state grant opportunities, but now much more grant funding is available through organizations such as TRP, Closed Loop Fund and others, the federal government is offering more opportunities than ever, and companies are stepping up as well.

“Short term, get started—there’s a lot of grant dollars out there,” Marshall encourages, adding that it’s crucial for city leaders to engage in conversations around sustaining and resourcing programs like these long-term. “And long term, really start engaging with your state government and federal government to talk about strong policy.”

And if Phoenix succeeds, the next step, the sustainability leaders say, is to educate other cities on what they’re doing so they can scale and replicate what’s working.

“Phoenix, in the past, has not been a place where you first thought of innovation,” Jordan says. “We’ve really changed that over the last decade or so and are demonstrating how collaboration and economic development strategies can enable this sustainable development, sustainable change, circular transition. … How do we spread that message far and wide and really demonstrate that this can be done anywhere by anyone?

“We want to be able to spread the wealth and see other cities will transition into the same thing, so that more opportunities, like the microfactory or partnership with the Recycling Partnership, can cultivate and drive that wide change across the country.”