REMADE Announces New Training Bootcamp to Accelerate the U.S.'s Transition to a Circular Economy

Registration is now open for online recycling bootcamp, June 21-22

— For the first time, the Institute is also now offering 10 courses to non-members —

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The REMADE Institute, a 148-member public-private partnership established by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) with an initial investment of $140 million, today announced a new training bootcamp to accelerate the nation's transition to a Circular Economy.

The live, two-day, online bootcamp in Advanced Fibers Recycling — part of the Institute's REMADE Academy — will take place next week. The training, which focuses on paper recycling, encompasses six courses, and leads to an awareness-level certificate, is scheduled to run from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm ET next Tuesday, June 21, and from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm ET next Wednesday, June 22.

REMADE CEO Nabil Nasr said the upcoming recycling bootcamp is part of REMADE's ongoing efforts to train workers across the United States in next-generation technologies. REMADE training enables the U.S.'s transition to a Circular Economy which reduces energy consumption; decreases greenhouse gas emissions; reduces the use of raw and virgin, or primary, materials; and increases the supply and use of recycled, or secondary, materials. Additional benefits of a circular approach include an increase in manufacturing competitiveness, an increase in supply chain resiliency, and a decrease in dependence on raw materials from outside the U.S.

"For U.S. manufacturing to stay competitive and have ready access to a resilient supply chain, manufacturers nationwide must accelerate their transition to a Circular Economy, and their workers must be trained in next-generation, circular technologies," Nasr said.

Fibers recycling, including paper recycling, is critically important in the U.S. and around the world. Here in the U.S., in our current curbside recycling system, paper and cardboard are frequently contaminated, resulting in more than 17.2 million tons, or 25%, of municipal solid waste (MSW) paper and paperboard ending up in a landfill. Through the Institute's ongoing research, REMADE seeks to remove contaminants, increase recycling rates, and as a result, increase the supply of recycled papers to manufacturers in the U.S.

The bootcamp's six courses are led by Kecheng Li, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Paper Engineering at Western Michigan University (WMU), and are taught by professors and experts with WMU, Resource Recycling Systems, and other organizations. Courses featured in the bootcamp are: 

• Paper Recovery & Processing With a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) System
• Manufacturing of Paper From Recycling Fibers – Process, Products & Technologies
• Fiber Properties & Paper Physics
• Printing Inks & Deinking in the Paper Recycling Process
• Paper Recycling Pilot Plant & Industry Tour
• Stickies & Organic Materials Characterization & Removal in the Paper Recycling Process

The bootcamp is open to all. Innovators, researchers and leaders in industry, academia, government, and the non-profit sector who are interested in learning more about the U.S.'s transition to a Circular Economy, especially in the areas of paper recycling and fibers recycling, are especially encouraged to attend. A certificate of completion will be issued to participants upon successful passage of a quiz to validate course attendance.

To register for the awareness-level bootcamp, click here. Cost is free for REMADE members and is $1,300 for non-members. Additional fibers recycling courses at both the practitioner level and expert level will be available to Institute members only on-demand.

Through its REMADE Academy, the Institute offers members more than 50 hours of online training content focused on systems analysis, design, materials optimization, remanufacturing and end-of-life, and recycling and recovery of four energy-intensive material classes: metals, plastics/polymers, fibers, and electronic waste.

In addition, for the first time, REMADE is also offering select short courses and certificate courses to non-members for a fee. Besides the upcoming bootcamp, select courses available to non-members include:

• Fundamentals of Mechanical Recycling of Plastic
• End-of-Life and the Circular Economy
• Flexible Plastic Packaging: Industry Landscape, Challenges and Opportunities
• Introduction to Circular Economy and Systems Analysis
• Mechanical Recycling Limitations and Ways to Overcome Limitations
• Mechanical Recycling Testing, Extruding and Recovery
• Plastic Flows Through a MRF
• Product Design Considerations for Plastic Recycling 
• Systems Analysis Tools and First Insights from REMADE Projects 

To learn more and/or to access these courses now, click here. For more information on the REMADE Academy and the Institute's Education and Workforce Development (EWD) offerings, visit REMADE Academy.

Founded in 2017, REMADE is a 148-member public-private partnership established by the U.S. Department of Energy with an initial investment of $140 million. REMADE is the only national institute focused entirely on the development of innovative technologies to accelerate the U.S.'s transition to a Circular Economy. In partnership with industry, academia, and national laboratories, the REMADE Institute enables early-stage applied research and development that will create jobs, dramatically reduce embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and increase the supply and use of recycled materials. The cumulative embodied energy savings, greenhouse gas reduction and increase in recycled materials use expected to result from this investment is approximately 1 Quad of energy, about 50 million metric tons of CO2equivalent greenhouse gas reduction, and more than a 40 million metric tons per year increase in the supply and use of recycled materials, respectively. For additional information about the REMADE Institute, visit www.remadeinstitute.org.

For additional information contact:
Megan Connor Murphy
Director, Marketing and Communications
REMADE Institute
585-213-1036 office; 585-339-8379 cell
[email protected]

SOURCE REMADE Institute