NextCycle Michigan supports 17 teams building Michigan’s circular economy

Seventeen entrepreneurs, nonprofits, small businesses, and community teams are receiving technical support, consulting, business and marketing planning, and networking with potential partners, suppliers, and funders as part of the NextCycle Michigan 2025 summer cohort.

The teams were chosen for the six-month program from applicants nationwide for their innovative ideas to address gaps and opportunities in material reuse, recycling, and organics recovery. They continue to receive individualized coaching to refine and advance their projects.

The summer cohort culminates with a showcase event June 25 at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where teams will present five-minute project pitches to an audience with the chance to attract investors, win monetary awards, and generate publicity.

NextCycle Michigan is an initiative of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), facilitated by Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) with support from Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University and the Michigan Recycling Coalition. Since 2020, NextCycle Michigan has supported more than 170 projects, impacting over 50 Michigan counties, with the support of more than 130 partners.

“NextCycle Michigan supports the type of innovation and enterprise that fills the gaps in Michigan’s recycling chain: developing and expanding material collection, processing, and markets,” said Tracy Kecskemeti, acting director of EGLE’s Materials Management Division. “These teams embody the entrepreneurial spirit and environmental drive that are building Michigan’s circular economy and creating jobs, reducing waste, and improving communities.”

Teams represent two project categories, or tracks. The Recycling Technology Innovations track supports projects that advance new material recovery technologies, waste minimization techniques, and other advancements in sustainable material management. The Organic Materials Solutions track supports projects that transform any aspect of organics recovery, from food rescue to repurposing wood waste to new end markets for finished compost.

Recycling Technology Innovations teams

• The Axia Institute, Midland: Seeking to launch a pilot project to collect, sanitize, and reintroduce used prescription pill bottles at major pharmacies and health care providers in Midland County.
• D2Solar, Detroit: Testing the feasibility of introducing used solar panels into Detroit urban farms, block clubs, and community organizations by refurbishing solar panels from decommissioned installations and damaged panels from new installations.
• ENVIWA, Dearborn: Developing ECO REVIVE, an eco-friendly circular hydrometallurgical process that recovers high-value minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, platinum group metals, and rare earth elements, sourced from end-of-life electric vehicle batteries, catalytic converters, fuel cells, solar panels, and e-waste.
• Mycocycle, Bolingbrook, Illinois: Launching innovation hubs in Michigan, leveraging its patented mycelium-based process to transform waste such as carpet, rubber, textiles, gypsum, and asphalt into sustainable, low-carbon bio-composite materials for use in compounding and manufacturing as performance-boosting additives.
• Orange Sparkle Ball, Atlanta, Georgia: Developing a digital platform piloted in Detroit that facilitates the collection of materials like food waste, electronics, and single-use plastics, using electric autonomous robots to deliver the materials for reuse, recycling, refurbishment, and redistribution.
• Sequestro, Ann Arbor: Developing an under-sink filtration device that uses waste wood pulp to absorb PFOS and PFOA – two common PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – and provide PFAS-free drinking water to homes, with future applications in industrial and municipal water purification. 
• Urban Quarries, Redford: Seeking to develop a site to process construction and demolition waste and street-sweeping debris like sands, concrete, and asphalt into repurposed aggregate for cement and asphalt production. More at ProSweep.
• Vitriform3D, Knoxville, Tennessee: Seeking to establish a regional factory in Michigan to convert glass waste too fine to be used in traditional new glass production into engineered stone for wall cladding panels.

Organic Materials Solutions teams

• Bunberry Farm, Calumet: Developing an enriched compost product from local waste byproducts including food waste, rabbit manure, sawdust, and wood shavings from mills, as well as low-grade waste ore from mining operations and byproducts from quarry operations.
• Capture Tech, Ann Arbor: Using modular natural fiber-wrapped biochar filter substrates with bioremediating microbial inoculants to create biochar capture packs that remove nonpoint contaminants from waterways and repurpose them into restorative fertilizers and soil amendments.
• C’Mon Betty, Ann Arbor: Launching a health-conscious condiment brand made from fresh surplus or blemished produce, packaged in recyclable containers.
• Ed’s Used Parts and Salvage, Hancock: Expanding its operation to include compost production from packaged and post-consumer food and yard waste from schools, businesses, and municipalities.
• Grand Rapids Compost, Grand Rapids: Expanding its organic waste collection service, currently collecting food scraps from local restaurants, coffee shops, and food retailers, to include weekly curbside residential pickup, increasing production of its high-end compost.
• MAC Gardens, Detroit: Developing an app paired with collection and education to engage Detroit-area coffee shop consumers and office workers, changing behaviors to properly separate food waste and redirect edible food to those in need.
• Plantwise Academy, Muskegon: Launching a hands-on education and skills-based pilot program within Muskegon Public Schools that integrates plant-based nutrition and food waste composting, equipping students with sustainable knowledge and career training.
• SEEDS Ecology and Education Centers, Traverse City: Seeking to spur and support financially viable business opportunities that foster local ownership and provide small-scale organic waste solutions in food/wood rescue, compost, and biochar across a 10-county region in northwest Lower Michigan.
• Sisters on a Roll and St. Suzanne Cody Rouge Community Resource Center, Detroit: Teaming up to expand food sovereignty program that converts excess restaurant food into meals for community members.

Learn more or get involved on NextCycle Michigan’s Summer Showcase web page.