Entrepreneurs looking to make it big in Phoenix may turn to recycling for their next businesses venture.
A city-funded incubator was announced Jan. 13 to help spur the development of the recycling industry within Arizona. The Center for Resource Intelligence will be housed at the Phoenix branch of Arizona State University. It could receive up to $2 million in funding during the next four years to develop a number of projects “that will improve waste management outcomes and, eventually, other resource management issues,” according to Dan O’Neill, general manager at Sustainable Solutions Services, the group responsible for managing the incubator.
O’Neill explained that the program will aim to simultaneously boost recycling rates and recycling business in and around Phoenix. “The potential impacts are many, beginning with increased diversion and better use of the waste and recycling that is diverted,” O’Neill stated. “More importantly, the center is focused on economic development outcomes: creation of new firms, growth of existing ones, new firm revenues and profits, new jobs, new revenue sources for the city (and other municipalities and governments in the region) and lower costs for citizens.”
If all goes as planned, Phoenix officials expect an additional 10 to 25 percent of its municipal solid waste will be diverted from landfill as a result of the initiative.