STRATEGY
EXPERTISE
Marisa Adler
Marisa Adler is a textile circularity consultant with more than two decades of experience spanning the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. Her work focuses on helping organizations understand and navigate the systems, policies, market dynamics, and operational realities that shape textile recovery, reuse, repair, recycling, and circularity. She is known for bringing together technical knowledge, practical implementation experience, and cross-sector perspective to help clients move from ideas and ambitions to actionable strategies.
Background
Over the course of her career, Marisa has worked at the intersection of sustainability, materials management, public policy, and industry collaboration. She has advised brands, retailers, industry groups, recyclers, public agencies, and mission-driven organizations on textile recovery systems, extended producer responsibility, infrastructure needs, market development, and circular economy strategy. Her work is grounded in the view that textile circularity requires more than high-level goals; it requires realistic planning, credible data, strong partnerships, and an understanding of how systems function in practice.
Experience. Marisa previously served as Senior Consultant and Textile Practice Lead at Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), where she established and led the firm’s Textile Circularity Practice. In that role, she helped design collaborative value-chain solutions, informed extended producer responsibility efforts, and supported organizations grappling with textile waste management and recycling infrastructure. Before that, she worked for the New York City Department of Sanitation as Senior Advisor for Strategic Planning, where she contributed to work on materials management and environmental planning. This combination of public-sector and consulting experience continues to shape her approach: practical, systems-oriented, and attentive to both policy objectives and operational realities.
Credentials. Marisa holds a Master of Science in Natural Resource Management and Conservation from Antioch University New England and a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Management from Cornell University. She is also a LEED Accredited Professional. Her academic training, combined with years of applied work in the field, supports an approach that is analytical, collaborative, and focused on implementation.
Work
A significant part of Marisa’s work has centered on helping the textile sector better understand its current conditions and future options. She authored major reports including Sorting for Circularity USA: A Commercial Assessment of Fiber-to-Fiber Recycling in the U.S. and Textile Recovery in New York State: A Comprehensive Assessment of Data and Needs. She has also written on textile recovery and circularity for industry publications and contributed expertise to broader thought leadership efforts, including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy. Her work is often used to help frame industry conversations around what is technically possible, what markets currently support, where the infrastructure gaps are, and what it will take to build more effective systems.
Marisa’s project experience includes statewide needs assessments, circularity research, recycling market analysis, business-model development, and strategic support for emerging textile recovery initiatives. Examples include work for the New York State Center for Sustainable Materials Management, the North Carolina Textile Innovation and Sustainability Engine, Fashion for Good’s Sorting for Circularity USA initiative, the NYC Department of Sanitation, and NextCycle programs in multiple states. Across these efforts, she has focused on questions that matter to clients and stakeholders: what infrastructure exists today, what is missing, what economics are driving outcomes, where policy can help, and how to design systems that are both ambitious and credible.
Industry Engagement
Marisa is an experienced public speaker, moderator, and industry convener. She has spoken at and moderated sessions for Yale University, the Textile Recovery Summit, Circularity, the Resource Recycling Conference, Innovation Forum, INDA, SMART, and the New York State Federation of Solid Waste Associations, among others. Her speaking work reflects the same strengths that characterize her consulting practice: translating complexity clearly, grounding discussions in evidence and real-world conditions, and helping stakeholders from different parts of the value chain engage productively with one another.
Her leadership extends beyond client work. Marisa serves on the Board of Directors of the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) and chairs the New York State Association of Reduction, Reuse, and Recycling (NYSAR3) Textile Council. She has also served on advisory committees and boards connected to textile recycling, product stewardship, and sustainability. These roles reflect her long-standing commitment to advancing practical solutions through industry engagement, policy dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving.
Publications and Articles
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Sorting for Circularity USA: A Commercial Assessment of Fiber-to-Fiber Recycling in the U.S.
RRS and Fashion for Good
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Textile Recovery in the U.S. A Roadmap to Circularity
RRS
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Textile Recovery in New York State: A Comprehensive Assessment of Data and Needs
RRS and NYS Center for Sustainable Materials Management
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Where textile MRFs fit in a global recovery system (Plastics Recycling Update Magazine)
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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Nurturing Innovation
Recycling Today
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Textile recycling: Where do we stand?
Plastics Recycling Update Magazine
Podcasts
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Unlocking Textile Recovery in a Data-Driven System
Plastics Recycling Conference: Recycled Content Podcast Ep. 53
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Navigating The Challenges Of Textile Circularity With Marisa Adler
Change Cycle with Christine Yeager
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Unraveling the Future of Textile Recovery with Maite Quinn, Marisa Adler, and Beth Forsberg
Plastics Recycling Conference / Recycled Content Podcast Ep. 42
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Closet to Closet: Unlocking The $400 Billion Opportunity In The Textile Economy
The Selling Circular Podcast
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Overconsumption & Textile Waste
Unspun / Season 1, Ep. 12
