RISN

The Resource Innovation and Solutions Network (RISN) is a program of the Walton Sustainability Solutions Services at ASU, in partnership with the city of Phoenix’s Reimagine Phoenix initiative. Reimagine Phoenix seeks to divert 40% of the city’s waste away from landfill by 2020.

Launched in January 2014, the primary objective of RISN is to establish a network focused on creating value and economic development opportunities from solid waste streams.

In summer 2016, Seidman was commissioned by RISN to estimate the impact of circular economy activities in Maricopa County in 2014. Extending beyond the recycling focus of prior studies in other states, Seidman applied a series of local and national recycling, repair, and reuse rates to 43 sectors and subsectors in Maricopa County to estimate the maximum gross economic impact of circular economy activities in 2014.

In 2017, Seidman was commissioned for a follow-up study, quantifying the extent to which the current levels of recycled and additionally recoverable tons of paper, plastic, glass, and metals in the municipal waste stream could meet the annual production needs of locally-based circular economy firms. The second study included interviews with 21 national and local stakeholders.

Project Files:

Recycle, Repair, Reuse: Gross Economic Impact Estimates in 2014 in Maricopa County (October 2016)

The Circular Economy: Quantifying the Gross Maximum Economic Contribution of Materials in the City of Phoenix Waste Stream (November 2017)

The Economic Impact of Implementing a Circular Economy in the City of Phoenix (February 2018)