A new strategic partnership aims to boost the circular economy innovation on the island of Puerto Rico to convert unmanaged or landfilled items, such as sargassum seaweed, plastics and tires, into new products.
The New York-based technology center, Newlab, and the island’s economic development organization, Invest Puerto Rico, are recruiting entrepreneurs and early-stage companies to pilot innovative waste conversion solutions.
The aim is to reduce landfill waste, unlock the potential for renewable life cycles of materials, such as end-of-life tires, waste plastics, and sargassum seaweed, and turn these items into valuable resources.
Sargassum is a seaweed whose excess growth in recent years is affecting the coastal ecosystems and communities of Puerto Rico and other nearby Caribbean islands.
Tires are another damaging waste stream in Puerto Rico, with almost 18,000 tires being disposed every day on the island.
And by harnessing advancements in recycling technologies and circular design principles, the partners seek to make plastic recycling viable in Puerto Rico to alleviate the issues around plastic waste and reduce dependency on imports.
Newlab specializes in turning transformative ideas and technologies into real-world solutions for critical sustainability challenges across materials, energy, and mobility.
Previous Newlab collaborations include working with Ford, Verizon, LG, Orsted, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and Mercado Libre, among others, to develop breakthrough solutions for global challenges.
The initiative has so far included scoping and discovery research, convening stakeholders, pilot conceptualization and partnership development.
The effort has laid the groundwork for the execution of pilot projects, which are scheduled to be launched later this year.
In a statement, Invest Puerto Rico’s director of strategy and research, John Bozek, said the partnership represents a “significant step forward in our efforts to promote sustainable economic development and innovation” on the island.
“We believe that this collaboration can help start to alleviate the island’s problem with waste management through innovative solutions, create new economic opportunities for local businesses, and serve as a model for other communities facing similar challenges,” he added.
The CEO of Invest Puerto Rico, Ella Woger-Nieves, said in an interview that although many might associate the island with tourism, Puerto Rico’s economy is based primarily on manufacturing and knowledge services.
In fact, the island is the largest exporter of biopharmaceuticals in the United States.
“We also have a very solid innovation entrepreneurship ecosystem here, which has been thriving over the past five to 10 years,” she told me.
She added many of the waste challenges being faced on Puerto Rico are not unique to the island.
“What we’re trying to do is create a blueprint for other islands and global communities to become more sustainable and self-reliant,” she added.
Satish Rao, chief product officer at Newlab, said there is also “local momentum” on the island to address issues like waste and circularity.
“If we can create a value chain where you go from waste collection to the production of new products, we could create localised value streams on the island, which could be an incredible drive of economic development,” Rao told me.
New Partnership Aims To Boost Circular Economy On Puerto Rico - Forbes
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