REMADE Institute to lead bilingual circular economy workforce training partnership

The REMADE Institute has been awarded $380,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop circular economy workforce training for the U.S.' growing electronics scrap and remanufacturing industries. REMADE will lead the workforce development program and partner with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA), and the Remanufacturing Industries Council (RIC).

The goal of the project is to develop bilingual, English and Spanish, online workforce training for roles that do not require four-year degrees in the e-scrap and remanufacturing industries. Both of these industries have significant needs for employees who can fill these types of roles, which include shop-floor workers as well as repair, test, and diagnostic technicians. The specific training developed as part of this project would teach entry-level shop-floor workers and provide progressive training to allow workers to move up the ladder into repair, test, and diagnostic technician jobs.

"Upskilling the nation's workforce is critical for ensuring the nation's successful transition to a circular economy," said REMADE CEO Nabil Nasr. "Improved training in these industries will reduce the onboarding costs for entry-level employees and facilitate upskilling. It will also address significant barriers for these businesses as they seek to accelerate circularity in the consumer electronics industry."

E-scrap companies identify products and components that are worth repairing and reselling and they need shop-floor workers who can support them with sorting, testing, diagnostics, and more. Consumer electronic product remanufacturers have similar roles for shop floor workers and technicians. They need workers who can support them with disassembly, sorting, testing, diagnostics, and more.

"Access to skilled operators and experienced technicians is a challenge all over in manufacturing, and is no less a problem for companies that process e-scrap or remanufacture electronics," said Mike Thurston, technical director at RIT's Golisano Institute for Sustainability. "This program is designed to help bridge that labor gap."

"RIC member companies are contending with the same labor shortages facing the rest of the manufacturing industry," said RIC Chair Jeff Sutherland. "We are pleased to support this project to facilitate the onboarding of new remanufacturing employees."

The funding for this award is provided by the DOE's Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and is one of five awards that were recently announced to accelerate the development, deployment, and scale-up of education and workforce programs that support the labour needs of U.S. manufacturing. This funding will be used to expand such programs to broader communities across the country and meet the future labour needs of industries that are projected to expand as part of the nation's shift to a clean energy economy.