The Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service
The Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service (WS3) is an evolution of one of the original initiative programs to be housed within ASU Knowledge Enterprise Development. This sustainability scaling service, a progression of the traditional cooperative extension service model, co-creates solutions-based projects with faculty, students and external partners such as the City of Phoenix, international aid organizations and established and emerging businesses.
ASU-based WS3 empowers businesses, governments and NGOs to drive impactful change through actionable knowledge and innovation. It convenes more than 720 transdisciplinary researchers, faculty and innovative global partners to solve for these complex and urgent issues. It convenes this knowledge network to understand what is possible and develop actionable strategies, transformative pilot programs and scalable systems that solve some of the most audacious and complex sustainability challenges.
Partnership
Dr. Michael Dorsey
Director and Chair of the Walton Sustainability Solutions Service
M. K. Dorsey holds the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service (RMWSSS) Chair (The Walton Chair) with a concurrent appointment as Professor of Practice in the College of Global Futures (CGF).
"Plastic waste is a problem in Phoenix and around the world. The Walton Sustainability Solutions Service has a growing track record surmounting the plastic crisis in Arizona and looks forward to expanding our work advancing the global hydrogen economy in a sustainable, responsible and financially rewarding way,"
"We are proud to join the global clean hydrogen network C-S is working towards newly building with other leading global institutions, such as the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) led by CSIR's Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) which C-S intends to work with - as it underscores the innovative potential and global scalability of clean hydrogen,"
Dr. Michael Dorsey, Director and Chair of the Walton Sustainability Solutions Service
Arizona is one of the 20 US states recognizing advanced recycling as a manufacturing technology; passing legislation in 2021 that is expected by ASU to unlock more than $160 million in recycling-related annual economic activity.
In his 2011 book Bird on Fire, New York University sociologist Andrew Ross branded Arizona’s capital city Phoenix – the fifth largest and fastest-growing city in the USA – as "the world's least sustainable city." In response, the city has set an aggressive goal of zero waste by 2050 and has become a leader in municipal sustainability.
The City of Phoenix Office of Sustainability has "ambitious goals of zero carbon, zero waste, clean air, a 100-year water supply and parks and transit in every neighborhood (and near-term goals of a 50% reduction in carbon by 2030), Phoenix is investing in infrastructure to achieve its vision. In the last 7 years, Phoenix has spent over $700M in sustainability projects." Delivering clean hydrogen, AquaH®, Clean Seas is poised to advance far beyond waste plastics-to-oil projects approved by the City of Phoenix Council in 2024.
Arizona - Committed to Zero Waste and Carbon Neutrality
Clean-Seas Arizona
In 2022 Clean-Seas Arizona inaugurated its partnership with the innovative Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service (RMWSSS) and Arizona State University to establish a facility in Phoenix.
Clean-Seas is excited to have access to the scientific community of ASU the expertise of the (RMWSSS) as we stand up our Arizona facility.
When fully operational, this facility will source and convert feedstock from Southwestern US, producing plastic precursors initially, and eventually transitioning to production of clean hydrogen, AquaH®. Plans are being explored for this facility to be powered by renewable energy. If successful, Clean-Seas Arizona would become the first completely off-grid plastic recycling facility in the world.
