You care about where things actually end up, not just where they're supposed to go. You care about whether "sustainable" means something or just sounds good. You care about learning by doing instead of watching from the sidelines. Good. That's exactly who we built this for.
This is a real circular economy business you help run, hands in every function, from materials logistics to community organizing to product development. This isn't shadowing. It isn't coffee runs. It isn't a resume line that falls apart the second someone asks what you actually did.
The skills transfer everywhere. Materials logistics becomes supply chain experience. Community organizing becomes stakeholder management. Running your own capstone from scratch becomes real project management experience, the kind that can count toward the practical hours required for certifications like the CAPM or PMP, and works in almost any career lane you choose next, whether that's circular economy or not.
We picked glass because it's the cleanest, most visible failure in the recycling system, and because fixing it depends entirely on the last mile: the point where a single household decision determines whether a bottle becomes a new bottle or a landfill statistic.
Most DMV residents think their glass gets recycled. It doesn't. Single-stream recycling shatters glass in the truck, contaminates the paper and plastic riding next to it, and the whole load often gets landfilled as a result. That's wish-cycling: recycling that only works in theory, undone the moment it hits a sorting truck.
The fix isn't just logistics, it's behavior. Every fellow works both sides of that problem: the operational side (last-mile collection that keeps glass out of the contaminated stream) and the educational side (helping residents understand why the blue bin doesn't work for glass, and what to do instead). You'll see, firsthand, how solving an environmental problem is as much about changing behavior as it is about changing infrastructure.
Students, recent grads, career changers, veterans, or anyone curious about sustainability who wants real experience instead of busywork. No specific degree required. Academic credit may be available through your school.
This is a hybrid fellowship. Some work (planning, data, marketing, virtual meetings) happens remotely. Some work (collection routes, community events, on-the-ground organizing) happens in person across the DMV. Exact split depends on your rotation focus.
Let's be direct about this one: the fellowship itself is unpaid. But unpaid isn't the same as uncompensated, and we don't want that word doing more work than it should.
Fellows are eligible for real commission, on physical products like Glassy Plants, and on the paid experiences we run throughout the year (think bottle-smashing events, community pop-ups, and other live activations). If you help sell it, run it, or make it happen, you can earn from it.
The specifics, what's commissionable, what the splits look like, which rotations have the most earning potential, get walked through in detail during your interview, once we know which rotation and cohort actually fits you.
You won't sit in one lane. You'll rotate through the core functions of a circular economy business:
Collection routes, sorting, and the operations behind the Purple Flag system.
Pricing, partnerships, sponsor outreach, and the spreadsheet work that keeps a small company running.
Recruiting households, running info sessions, growing the flock neighborhood by neighborhood.
Tracking pounds recovered, building out the Glassy Scorecard, proving what actually got diverted.
Glassy Plant development and other circular product experiments.
Content, social, and campaigns that don't feel like a utility company.
Every cohort moves through the same 12-week loop, whatever season you join in.
The DMV glass system, Purple Flag operations, meet the team, choose your rotation focus.
Rotate through 2–3 functional areas in ~2-week blocks.
Dedicated project development with regular check-ins.
Capstone presentation, certification awarded.
Fellowship cohorts run three times a year, aligned with the academic calendar.
Every fellow finishes with a real project for their portfolio: a neighborhood campaign, a product prototype, a market research deep dive, a documentary, whatever fits your interests and our needs. Capstones are due at the end of week 11 and presented at the week 12 Showcase.
Submit a resume and a short statement (250 words or less) telling us why you're interested in circular economy work and what you hope to get out of the fellowship. No cover letter required.
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Candidates whose application details best align with the fellowship are invited to a virtual interview process consisting of two rounds, each lasting no more than 20 minutes.
This is a hybrid fellowship based in the DMV area. Applications for the Fall cohort are reviewed on a rolling basis through September 5.