City of Austin Announces Winners of Annual Competition Celebrating Innovative Reuse Solutions – AustinTexas.gov

Austin, TX The City of Austin, in partnership with Austin Young Chamber, announced the winners of the annual[Re]Verse Pitch Competition. The program aims to reduce waste in Austin through innovation and design. The winners, known as Innovation Fellows, developed circular business ideas using byproduct materials from other businesses. The Innovation Fellows will receive prizes valued up to $16,500. The prize package includes a stipend for completing the three-part Innovation Accelerator program.

Born Again Kreations by Aria Ali, Amreen Rajabali, andMohammed AliBorn Again Kreations plans to create insulated water bottle holders using decorator fabric samples and cuts of high-quality fleece from Austin Creative Reuse and bulletproof vests from Travis County.

GROARTS by Jaclyn Heiser, Declan O'Reilly, and Ryan McAdamsGROARTS plans to create the GROBOX which is a simple hydroponic setup for growing microgreens at homeusing plastic boxes and plastic inserts fromACC Bioscience Incubator and EQO.

Reclaim. Repurpose. Reimagine.by Susan AndersonReclaim. Repurpose. Reimagine. plans to create packaging for luxury goods using decorator fabric samples from Austin Creative Reuse and bulletproof vests from Travis County.

REVISION GOODS by Aileen ChenREVISION GOODS plans to create durable home goods using decorator fabric samples from Austin Creative Reuse.

During the accelerator, Fellows will receive guidance, training and community support to work on their idea. This years accelerator partners are Texas State University, SOS Leadership and New Chip. At the end of the accelerator, teams will pitch their idea to a cohort of investors at the Citys Circular Austin Showcase on August 30, 2022. There will also be spots available for existing or start-up businesses to pitch in the Circular Austin Showcase.

Applications for the Circular Austin Showcase are open now through May 31. Visitaustintexas.gov/circularshowcaseto apply.This years [Re]Verse Pitch Competition started on February28 at the virtualopening pitch event. Over six weeks, competitors attended virtual workshops and worked with program mentors before submitting theirbusiness ideas to the competition. A panel of judges reviewed submissions and selected Fellows based on equal scoring criteria.

The [Re]Verse Pitch Competition is a collaboration between the City of Austin and Austin Young Chamber, with support from community partners.Learn more atReversePitch.org.

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The City of AustinCircular Economy Programs mission is to attract, retain, and grow businesses, non-profits, and entrepreneurs in the zero waste industry in order to create well-paying local jobs, attract investment, and support the necessary infrastructure for a resilient circular economy in Central Texas. The program is a partnership betweenAustin Resource Recoveryand theEconomic Development Department.

Austin Resource Recovery provides a wide range of services designed to transform waste into resources while keeping our community clean. Services include curbside collection of recycling, trash, yard trimmings and large brush and bulk items; street sweeping; dead animal collection; household hazardous waste disposal and recycling; and outreach and education. Austin Resource Recovery offers free, voluntary, and confidential consulting services to help Austin businesses reduce waste and comply with the Citys recycling ordinances. In December 2011, the Austin City Council approved the Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan, which is the Citys roadmap to Zero Waste. The City of Austin is committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to area landfills by 90 percent by 2040. Learn more ataustinrecycles.com.

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City of Austin Announces Winners of Annual Competition Celebrating Innovative Reuse Solutions - AustinTexas.gov