Circular Indiana

Circular economy initiatives: Circular Indiana continued moving toward an emphasis on strengthening the Circular economy, which encompasses more than Recycling and composting, and is defined by designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. The organization changed its name (from Indiana Recycling Coalition to Circular Indiana) to demonstrate this commitment. We continued leading the indianapolis Circular economy initiative (icei) stakeholder group to assist the city of indianapolis in achieving its thrive indianapolis goals related to waste & Recycling. Icei gathers over two dozen stakeholders representing local and statewide perspectives from human services agencies, governmental and non-governmental agencies, arts and culture organizations, neighborhood organizations, businesses, and waste and Recycling organizations. We hosted our first full circle event in indianapolis in september. This is tour-focused event co-hosted by Circular Indiana and sponsoring organizations brought together manufacturers, supply chain partners, elected officials, trade associations, and economic development leaders. This first event focused on the commodity material glass. Attendees gained insight into the host company's unique strengths and challenges, witnessed the relationship between the manufacturing supply chain and the Circular economy, and discovered Indiana's strategic advantages in this expanding framework. We also kicked off the update to our strategic plan and the organization's first-ever diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) plan. We utilized grant funding from the herb simon family foundation for the rebranding, strategic plan, and dei plan. This 12-month grant funding began mid-year in 2021 and continues into 2022.

Education outreach: as the pandemic continued, we hosted several virtual events and began transitioning back to in-person event at the end of the year. In april, we hosted an earth month webinar on the topic of preventing and managing food waste. In june, we hosted the 2021 virtual conference over 3 days with a mix of live virtual and prerecorded sessions. We utilized social media for 3 education campaigns: black history month, women's history month, and earth month. As a result of our name change and rebrand, we developed a new website and created new education resources including an interactive map, a video library, a blog, an events calendar, and much more. Also on our website, we continue to maintain our recyclesearch online database to connect individuals with locations for Recycling various materials statewide. We completed the development of the first module of the master recycler program, an online education platform with a series of learning modules on waste reduction, reuse, Recycling, composting, sustainable product design, the Circular economy, and a variety of other topics. The master recycler program addresses Indiana's need for comprehensive Recycling & Circular economy education. This work was funded by a grant from the kroger zero hunger zero waste foundation.

All other activities that promote the mission of the organization.