多亏美国材料市场项目，通常会被作为垃圾丢弃的材料找到了新的用途，该项目把一个企业的工业废弃料与能利用它盈利的其他企业相匹配。污染降低了，而且公司也受益了。

美国材料市场项目赢得了2016年循环经济数字创新大奖（Circular Economy Digital Disruptor），该奖是在瑞士达沃斯（Davos）世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum）年会上颁发的“循环”奖项之一。这里使用“Disruptor”一词，指的是能改进老方法的创新观点或工具。

云技术数字平台

美国材料市场是一个基于云技术的数字平台，在这里，用户可以发布废旧物资的详细信息——或者是需求——并达成双方都能接受的交易。例如，乔（Joe）的T恤衫厂可能有剩余的边角料，而安娜（Anna）的纱线厂能利用这些废料。当纱线厂用这些废料制造出有价值的新产品时，就被称为“升级回收”（upcycling）。

在获得循环奖时，该项目的主要合作机构之一“美国可持续发展工商理事会”（U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development）的共同创始人及执行董事安迪·曼（Andy Mangan）说，有几个原因可以说明现在是业务创新的好时机。他说：“其中包括不断增长的公司入伙，智能软件的日益复杂化，以及巴黎协议（Paris Agreement）后形成的解决气候变化的势头。”

全球共同努力

美国材料市场项目与美国可持续发展工商理事会和中国可持续发展工商理事会携手合作开发软件。这个软件是在2013年和2014年间由美中战略与经济对话（U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue）设在河北省秦皇岛的绿色合作伙伴计划（EcoPartnership）开发的。

美国材料市场项目是由美国可持续发展工商理事会、世界可持续发展工商理事会（World Business Council for Sustainable Development）以及企业生态论坛（Corporate Eco Forum）共同发起的一个项目。创始公司包括美国铝业公司（Alcoa）、阿姆斯特朗世界工业公司（Armstrong World Industries）、巴斯夫公司（BASF）、陶氏化学公司（Dow Chemical）、固特异公司（Goodyear）、诺贝丽斯公司（Novelis）、宝洁公司（Procter & Gamble）和利乐公司（Tetra Pak）。

在2015年试运行成功后，美国材料市场项目准备拓展到新的全球供应链中去。

世界可持续发展工商理事会的负责人彼得·巴克（Peter Bakker）说：“在向可持续蓬勃发展的经济过渡的过程中，企业发挥着关键作用。”从废弃产品中创造价值就是其中之一。

Thisunwanted stuff could have a second life 
 
The U.S. Materials Marketplace offers a creative route to economic growth without depleting precious natural resources or damaging the environment.

Materials that would ordinarily be dumped as trash find new life thanks to the Marketplace, which matches one business’s industrial waste with other businesses that can use it for profit. Pollution’s reduced and the companies benefit.

The U.S. Materials Marketplace won the 2016 award for Circular Economy Digital Disruptor, one of the“Circulars” awards given at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “Disruptor,” as used here, refers to innovative perspectives or tools that improve upon old ways of doing things.

In the cloud

The U.S. Materials Marketplace is a cloud-based digital platform where users post details about waste materials they have — or need — and work out mutually acceptable transactions. For example, Joe’s T-shirt factory may have fabric remnants that Anna’s yarn factory can use. When the yarn factory uses them to make a new product of value, it’s called “upcycling.”

On accepting the Circulars award, Andy Mangan, co-founder and executive director of the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development, one of the project’s chief collaborators, said there are several reasons that now is a good time for business innovations. “These include the growing corporate buy-in, the evolving sophistication of intelligent software and the momentum of climate change solutions coming out of the Paris agreement,” he said.

A global effort

The U.S. Materials Marketplace developed software jointly with the the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development and the China Business Council for Sustainable Development. They developed it under the U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue’s EcoPartnership project in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, between 2013 and 2014.
 

The U.S. Materials Marketplace is a project initiated by the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Corporate Eco Forum. Founding companies include Alcoa, Armstrong World Industries, BASF, Dow Chemical, Goodyear, Novelis, Procter & Gamble and Tetra Pak.
 

After its successful trial run in 2015, the U.S. Materials Marketplace plans to extend its reach to new, global supply chains.

“Business has a critical role in making the transition to a sustainable and thriving economy,” said Peter Bakker, head of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Creating value from waste products is one way to do this.