ReMade Institute seeks investment-worthy recycling ideas

The Rochester, New York-based Remade Institute says a critical first deadline in its fifth Request for Proposals process hits the Thursday after Memorial Day. Letters of intent to apply for a portion of the more than $50 million available is June 3, while final proposals are due on July 15.

The institute says the funds are being made available to promote investments in the “research, development and demonstration of technologies to sustain the nation’s manufacturing sector and accelerate the U.S.’s transition to a circular economy.”

“Remade is looking to fund a wide variety of research projects that increase the reuse, remanufacturing, recovery and recycling of metals, polymers/plastics, fibers and electronic [scrap],” says Remade CEO Nabil Nasr. “Industry-led transformational RD&D projects are especially encouraged.”

The Institute says proposed projects “must address the recovery and recycling of plastics, metals, fibers and e-waste; or address the recovery and remanufacturing of durable goods and components from key manufacturing sectors, including aerospace, heavy-duty off-road equipment, motor vehicle equipment, medical equipment and consumer products.”

Proposals also can focus on creating logistics models to improve materials recovery and recycling, increasing the circularity of metal alloys, identifying novel automation solutions to improve recycling economics, creating design tools that enable greater remanufacturing and recovery, utilizing recycled and cross-industry materials in manufacturing, introducing condition assessment and process technologies in remanufacturing, as well as projects that target materials with low recycling rates, such as Nos. 3-7 plastics.

“The Institute has a particular interest in R&D projects that analyze small material recovery facilities (MRFs) and recycling volumes nationwide,” adds the Remade Institute, adding it also is “open to proposals that explore circularity for metalware and plastics used in health care settings [and ] projects that focus on battery remanufacturing would also be acceptable.”

In addition, as part of this RFP, Remadehas allocated $1 million for education and workforce development. These projects must develop short courses to educate, train and develop incumbent workers in reuse, remanufacturing, recovery and recycling.

The Remade Institute describes itself as a public-private partnership established by the United States Department of Energy. It issued its latest RFP in April, initially representing $45 million in available funding, which has now been increased to more than $50 million. Companies, universities and organizations that have research or workforce development projects that might align with Remade’s RFP can read the details on this web page.