The Reuse Corridor Working Group (RCWG) is a coalition of businesses, individual stakeholders, and communities throughout central Appalachia that are building a market around reuse, upcycling, and recycling.
STRUCTURE
An emerging federation of organizations and other stakeholders invested in reintegrating the traditional values of resource conservation and material reuse within their business models to create jobs, strengthen economies, and build resilient communities. Spanning Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ohio, the corridor is an untapped material logistics system poised to connect communities generating supply of recycled feedstocks with primary processors and manufacturers with demand for electronics, cardboard, plastics, organics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, hard-to-recycle items, construction materials, batteries, and medical equipment.
The ReUse Corridor material generators, collectors, processors, and manufacturers are connected by a road network including U.S. Highway 52, or “King Coal Highway,” State Route 2, and Interstate 64 that can support material logistics for West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky and beyond. SEE THE MAP OF IMPACT.
GOALS
1. Build leadership capacity within the group / create feedback processes for strategic planning
2. Expand / retain the community of practice around ReUse in the region and deepen engagement amongst WG
participants.
3. Regional circular economy narrative building.
4. Facilitate regional planning and research to develop a clearer understanding of the materials management
market and where investments in infrastructure will have the highest impact.
For more details about each goal, view the pdf of ReUse Corridor’s five year work plan – click here.
WHO SHOULD JOIN
Organizations and individuals who are interested in ReUse. We welcome material generators, collectors, and aggregators, up cyclers, makers and craftsmen, and manufacturers aligned to share, capture, and transform resources.
MEETING DETAILS
This Working Group meets every fourth Thursday of the month at 1pm EST via Zoom.
Contact our Working Group Coordinator to join the meetings.
- Tessa Wieneke – tessa@opencirclestudio.com
CO-CHAIRS
- Baleigh Epperly, Associate Director of Creative Reuse at Coalfield Development
- bepperly@coalfield-development.org
- Maria Bonner, Zero Waste Director at Rural Action
- mariab@ruralaction.org
PARTICIPANTS
See the full list of participants
WORKING GROUP PRODUCTS
Get all Working Groups updates on its website.