Circular Indiana's: Battery Recycling EPR and Construction Waste Intiatives with President Pamela Francis

<p>Indiana&#39;s circular economy starts before the recycling bin, with buildings designed for deconstruction and manufacturers recovering their materials.</p><p><br><a href="https://www.circularin.org/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Circular Indiana</a> board president <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-francis-true-advisor-28b1186/?isSelfProfile=false" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Pam Francis</a>, vice president of Schott Design, and board member Ken Miller talk with <a href="https://www.seankgrady.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">The Environmental Transformation podcast</a> host <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-grady-chmm-9731658/?isSelfProfile=true" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Sean Grady </a>about keeping products and materials in use longer. They explain the organization&#39;s shift from the Indiana Recycling Coalition, the upfront costs of changing business practices and the challenge of keeping recovered materials close to Indiana manufacturers.</p><p><br>The conversation covers AI-powered waste sorting, digital product passports and extended producer responsibility, or EPR. Francis and Miller discuss their focus on batteries, the fire risks that shape that work and the questions surrounding producer-funded collection, consumer costs and convenient drop-off locations.</p><p><br>Francis describes practical changes in commercial interiors, including carpet recycling, furniture reuse and designing spaces that can adapt without sending usable materials to a landfill. Examples include Shaw Industries&#39; carpet take-back model and Sortera&#39;s use of AI to separate aluminum alloys, along with discarded tires turned into road barriers and unsold food recovered for animal feed.</p><p><br>The guests also preview the <a href="https://www.circularin.org/events-programs/2026conference" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">2026 Circular by Design: Innovation Meets Action conference</a>, scheduled for Oct. 5 at The Heritage Group&#39;s Indianapolis venue, The Center, with speakers including Heidi Sanborn and Kent Holm.<br>Conference registration and membership: <a href="http://circularin.org/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">circularin.org</a><br>Podcast, newsletter and updates: <a href="http://seankgrady.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">seankgrady.com</a></p><p><br>#CircularEconomy #BatteryRecycling #SustainableDesign<br>CHAPTERS:<