[RE]verse Pitch Competition

A Competition in Austin, Texas for Social Entrepreneurs Where We Pitch To You

Entrepreneurs are used to pitching their business idea to investors, partners, and anyone they might share an elevator ride with. In this competition, the tables turn. The [RE]verse Pitch Competition helps turn valuable raw materials that are currently leaving local businesses, non-profits, and institutions as waste into the raw materials for new or expanding social enterprises.

The 2022 Competition is underway!

Contestants are hard at work refining their idea.

Stay tuned for more info.
We’ll announce the Innovation Fellows in May!

Virtual Opening Pitch

The 7th Annual [RE]verse Pitch Competition kicked off with a virtual event on Monday, February 28th.

During the opening pitch event, we heard from businesses and institutions consistently generating or collecting by-product, surplus or otherwise underutilized materials streams in Austin, Texas that could be put to higher and better use in new social enterprises.

A note of clarification: Please note that burning materials will not be considered as an eligible submission in this competition. Per Austin's Zero Waste goal, incineration, which includes any burning for energy, is considered a form of disposal and therefore not an eligible reuse/recycling method.

Meet the 2022 Material Suppliers

ACC Bioscience Incubator / EQO: Rectangular plastic boxes with a plastic insert containing holes

Austin Creative Reuse: Decorator fabric samples

Austin Creative Reuse: Cuts of high-quality fleece

KIPP Texas Public Schools: School lunch 1/2 pint milk cartons

Travis County: Bulletproof vests

GET INVOLVED

Are you…

An Austin business with a local waste product?

Be a Material Supplier

An entrepreneur interested in starting a business that has a positive social impact? Or an established business professional interested in a creative way to diversify your revenue?

Enter the Competition

A service provider that works with start-ups or small businesses?

Sponsor a Prize

An experienced creative, technical or business professional interested in mentoring others?

Mentor a Competitor

2022 Material Supplier Pitch Event

The Material Supplier Pitch Event was held virtually on February 28th. The competition is now underway and contestants are hard at work refining their idea. Interested in catching the Material Supplier Pitch Event? Watch the Recording Here.

INSPIRATION

For-profit and non-profit enterprises across the country are demonstrating the value can be created from waste. Get inspired by these local, national, and global reuse and remanufacturing enterprises:

Classic Childhood creates a line of children’s rompers from men’s dress shirts.

Pentatonic turns items like smartphone glass, plastic bottles, and more into furniture.

Made of Air takes used wood waste and creates a thermoplastic that locks in embodied carbon.

Rhizoform creates insulated packaging using mycelium-based alternatives to replace plastic foam.

Matriark Foods upcycles farm surplus and fresh-cut remnants into healthy, delicious, products for food service: schools, hospitals, and food banks.

Patagonia uses discarded cotton scraps to create Responsibili-Tee® T-shirts.

Rubies in the Rubble creates relishes, ketchups & mayos from fresh ingredients that would otherwise go to waste.

Outlander Materials is creating a non-plastic foil from wastewater generated from beer brewing processes.

St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, Oregon: Candles into skateboard wax, window glass into gifts, dog beds from industrial scrap, and more.