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Federal and state programs highlight funding, commercialization and workforce supports for recycling innovators
Summary
EPA SBIR, Massachusetts M2I2, MassHire workforce services, and local processors illustrated the funding and technical assistance ecosystem that MassDEP and partners are positioning to help recycling businesses scale.
Speakers from EPA, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, MassHire and a private processing company described funding, commercialization supports and workforce services available to recycling and circular‑economy innovators.
April Richards, program manager for EPA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, said SBIR is a federal set-aside for small-business R&D focused on commercialization. April described a phased structure (phase 1 proof-of-concept, phase 2 development) and said EPA's SBIR office typically runs one funding cycle per year; she summarized local examples of SBIR-funded circular‑economy pilots and said many other federal agencies also run SBIR or related programs.
Lily Fitzgerald of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative described the Massachusetts Manufacturing Innovation Initiative (M2I2), which targets technology readiness levels 4–6 to support pilot-scale manufacturing and commercialization in Massachusetts. Lily said M2I2 has invested across many projects and gave examples of investments tied to manufacturing capacity expansion and circular‑economy applications.
Jack Radigan of MassHire (Department of Career Services) summarized workforce and business services: MassHire operates 28 career centers across 16 workforce areas, offers JobQuest (an employer portal) and Torq (a transferable-occupation tool), and provides Rapid Response and BizWorks services to help employers hire and manage layoffs; he also noted employer tax and hiring resources such as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit.
Jeff Brisley, president of 2M Resources (Hopedale), described a Massachusetts processing example: 2M has focused on glass diversion and reprocessing, told the group it has processed more than 250,000 tons of glass since 2018, and said DEP grants helped install an industrial dryer and recently provided capital assistance for optical sorters. Brisley emphasized the need for better sortation at redemption centers and MRFs and said technology upgrades and consumer-facing redemption improvements would increase the volume and quality of recovered glass.
Presenters and participants encouraged combining funding sources (state grants, federal SBIR, M2I2 investments, loan programs) and working with MassHire and apprenticeship programs to connect training to new infrastructure and equipment needs.
