Lexington, Kentucky, Oct. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rubicon® Founder & CEO, Nate Morris, addressed the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce today, on the event of his induction. Morris discussed the economic opportunities in Kentucky, as well as Rubicon's recent decision to announce its global headquarters in Lexington.
"The entrepreneurial spirit, the grit, the ability to repurpose and reimagine traditional industries from waste to water to other industrial sectors is what makes Kentucky the place we need to be," Morris, Founder & CEO of Rubicon, said. "It will be Kentucky companies like Rubicon who transform these industries. Kentucky can be a natural leader in leading these transformations.”
Morris also addressed the failure of recycling programs in many states in the country, and why it has been a struggle to achieve sustainability. The challenge, says Morris, is that business is better at solving big problems than government.
“The reason recycling has not made sense in a lot of places is because of infrastructure," Morris said. "One of the things we are working on at Rubicon is gathering the data in all 50 states to partner with investors and businesses to build the necessary recycling plants and infrastructure needed all over the country. We have to have the right data to invest in our communities."
Morris continued to discuss why transforming the waste and recycling industry might make more sense for a state like Kentucky than other states in the country.
"Most of our landfills today around the country are reaching capacity so we at Rubicon are the ones finding solutions to that," Morris said. "The United States has this issue because of our financial incentives and we are unfortunately grounded in a landfill-based model. To get off this landfill model, it first takes the data and then requires us to marry that data up with long term investment. Especially in Kentucky, this is going to be economical, it will create jobs and it will be better than burying garbage in the ground.”
About Nate Morris
Nate Morris is the chairman and founder of Lexington, Kentucky-based Morris Industries, and its signature asset, Rubicon, a widely acclaimed software company focused on waste and recycling. Morris, a ninth-generation Kentuckian born in Lexington and raised by a single mother in a union household, attended public schools and was the first Kentuckian to be named to Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40 list and to be recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is also the youngest inductee ever to the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. Morris is a senior advisor to the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Security, a member of Business Executives for National Security (BENS), a member of the Trilateral Commission, and a Fulbright Specialist Scholar.
About the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
From its beginnings more than 75 years ago, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has evolved into the premier business association in the state. Today, the Kentucky Chamber represents 3,800 member businesses – from family-owned shops to Fortune 500 companies – that employ over half of the Commonwealth’s workforce. The Kentucky Chamber's powerful grassroots network, through a partnership with more than 80 local chambers in the state, consists of 25,000 professionals. Strength in numbers continues to help the Chamber influence policymakers in areas such as business taxation, fiscal policy, environmental and safety issues, workers’ compensation, health care, and education reform.
About Rubicon
Rubicon is a Lexington, Kentucky based software platform that provides smart waste and recycling solutions for businesses and governments worldwide. Using technology to drive environmental innovation, the company helps turn businesses into more sustainable enterprises, and neighborhoods into greener and smarter places to live and work. Rubicon’s mission is to end waste. It helps its partners find economic value in their waste streams and confidently execute on their sustainability goals. Learn more at Rubicon.com.
