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Office of Sustainability pitches circular-economy innovation center, releases Cool Kit heat-mitigation guide
Summary
The Office of Sustainability proposed a Charlotte-style circular economy "innovation barn" for Richmond, targeting construction debris, food waste, textiles and plastics, and released a Cool Kit guide aimed at urban-heat mitigation for city projects and private property.
Tara Wharton, sustainability manager in the Office of Sustainability, told the Governmental Operations Standing Committee on July 16 that Richmond has the institutional and industrial assets to host a circular-economy innovation center that would turn waste streams into revenue and workforce opportunities.
Wharton described the model used in Charlotte's Innovation Barn—a city-owned building leased to a nonprofit for a nominal fee, supplemented by corporate sponsors, grants, tenant rent and earned revenue—and noted on-site amenities that Charlotte uses to incubate circular businesses: plastics processing, a glass crusher, an urban lumber mill, business incubation labs, workforce-development retail and cafe space, tours and educational programming. She said the city is conducting a materials-flow analysis focused initially on…
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