Department of Ecology State of Washington

WA Recycling Market Development Center - Spring 2025 Newsletter

Washington Department of Ecology sent this bulletin at 03/21/2025 09:56 AM PDT

Recycling Market Development Center

Spring 2025 Newsletter

Bringing people and information together

Recycling Market Development Center Icons

Spring 2025 advisory board meeting Wednesday April 9th

Join us Wednesday April 9th from 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. PST to hear the latest recycling market updates from the Center and Department of Commerce.

Our meeting theme is textiles and three of our board members presenting are on their experiences. Board member Jeff Zillich from Waste Management is bringing his colleges Raymond Randall and Dave Huber to talk about their textile pilots. Matt Thurston from REI Co-op will share his perspective as the vice president of sustainability. Carly Mick from the University of Oregon, Portland campus, Director of Sports Product Design will give us a high-level introduction to textile material waste management.

Board Meeting Registration

Join us for a four-part web series on the textile supply chain.

The textile industry is one of the largest contributors to global emissions and the fastest growing materials in the US waste stream. The complexity and approach to managing this material stream spans global manufacturing, social behavior, data gaps, to local implications, and the list goes on. We tackled the challenge by casting a wide net to start conversations and build an invaluable network of partners from local crafters to global industry leaders.

The culmination of outreach through the RMDC has also resulted in a dynamic and multi-faceted Co-Design Team facilitated by Mya and Megan.

Unraveling the Textile Industry for a Regenerative Washington is a four-part series designed to build on itself or stand-alone.

Every person along the textile value chain has a vital perspective in finding a solution to this undeniable problem and is welcome to attend. So, this is your call to action to break down silos, find each other and empower a unified voice that will build a resilient textile industry here in Washington.

Come and join us by clicking on each date above to open the Zoom registration links. Speaker agendas will be announced in the coming weeks.

NextCycle Washington 2024 co-hort 2 winners

NextCycle Washington Pitch Showcase May 19!

The NextCycle Washington 16 entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and small business teams from cohort 3 of the circular accelerator are working hard to have their pitches ready to wow you at the 2025 pitch showcase. The Pitch Showcase is the culmination of NextCycle programming advancing projects focused on material reuse, repair, recycling, composting, and recycled content products. After months of business and technical research, mentoring, and planning, teams deliver a summary of their projects using a concise 5-minute business pitch format. Teams are competing for cash prizes and bragging rights.

NextCycle Washington is built on a foundation of collaboration and partnership. Your organization can be a part of it, download the sponsorship prospectus to learn about available opportunities to support the program.

Co-Located with the Washington State Recycling Association Annual Conference

The WSRA conference will take place May 19-22 at the Northern Quest Casino Resort in Airway Heights, WA, just west of Spokane. The conference will have nearly 40 different sessions covering topics like waste reduction, glass recycling, farm waste, organic management laws, textiles, food waste, offal, electric fleets, contamination, and grant opportunities. Kick off the event with the NextCycle Pitch Showcase and stay for the informational sessions and energizing networking opportunities during the conference.

You must register for each event separately. Visit the WSRA website for more information about their conference!

Pitch Registration