January 25, 2017 (Arlington, Va.) – The American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) is committed to be an affiliate member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) new $140 million Reducing Embodied-Energy and Decreasing Emissions (REMADE) Institute – a national coalition led by the Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance.
ACMA participated in a DOE-sponsored workshop that helped create the funding opportunity for REMADE. The workshop highlighted the need for sustainable composite material recycling solutions, which was supported by many of the workshop’s participants. After the REMADE funding opportunity was announced, ACMA reached out to RIT to support the REMADE proposal and provided a letter of support.
As part of its affiliate membership, ACMA will participate in institute meetings, events and will receive updates related to the institute’s projects and initiatives. ACMA’s intent is to help the REMADE Institute engage with ACMA’s network of businesses working toward advances in composites recycling.
“ACMA is proud to participate in this nationwide effort that will ultimately create small business opportunities and help keep our members competitive in a global economy driven by next-generation recycling methods,” said Tom Dobbins, ACMA President.
The institute will focus efforts on driving down the cost of technologies essential to reuse, recycle and remanufacture materials, including fibers, polymers, metals and electronic waste. Since composite materials are highly durable and corrosion resistant, there are significant opportunities for reuse and remanufacturing.
“ACMA believes these investigations will create clean energy initiatives that could save billions of dollars in energy costs through novel manufacturing techniques that will help our industry continue to develop the business case for composite recycling,” said Dobbins.
With the help of ACMA, as well as 25 other trade organizations, 26 universities, 44 companies, seven national labs and foundations and three states (New York, Colorado and Utah), the institute will work toward a number of five-year goals, including:
- A 5 to 10 percent improvement in manufacturing material efficiency by reducing manufacturing material waste
- A 50 percent increase in remanufacturing applications
- A 30 percent increase in efficiency of remanufacturing operations
- A 30 percent increase in recycling efficiencies
- A targeted 50 percent increase in sales for the U.S. manufacturing industry to $21.5 billion and the creation of a next-generation recycling and manufacturing workforce
For more information, visit www.rit.edu/remade.
