{"id":82212,"date":"2026-02-11T10:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T15:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=82212"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:31:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:31:55","slug":"women-in-science-2026-madeline-walker-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/women-in-science-2026-madeline-walker-miller\/","title":{"rendered":"She Turns Textile Waste Into a Climate Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Madeline
Madeline Walker Miller’s company focuses on textiles that end up on the cutting room floor during the manufacturing process. (Credit: Courtesy of Madeline Walker Miller)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Editor’s note: This profile is part of our 11 Women to Watch in Science<\/a> package.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Madeline Walker Miller, who grew up the daughter of an entrepreneur (her dad) and an energy-efficiency company CEO (her mom), <\/strong>it made sense that she would eventually land in a similar field. The Detroit native is the founder of NexTiles, a company recovering textile waste and giving it a second life \u2013 everything from thermal and acoustic building insulation to punching bags and artificial snow for theme parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than 15% of textiles<\/a> are recycled, and with approximately 17 million tons being produced every year, that adds up to a lot of waste \u2013 11.3 million tons<\/a> end up in landfills every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller turns a growing waste problem into a climate solution, cutting landfill use and associated emissions (landfills are the third largest source<\/a> of human-related methane waste in the U.S.), as well as lowering utility bills and replacing virgin materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NexTiles focuses on pre-consumer waste, or textiles that end up on the cutting room floor during the manufacturing process, working with fashion, automotive and aircraft companies. The materials are shredded, although any large leather hides that are usable are sold and repurposed. The company shreds up to 120,000 pounds a month, and Miller has plans to expand following the purchase of a large warehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe space is a former film studio, and we found some really cool things when we were cleaning it out, like gator shoes [made from alligator skin<\/a>], which are kind of like a Detroit staple,\u201d Miller laughs. \u201cAnd so it just feels right and it feels good to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller started out as a dual-degree engineering major, but took an interest in environmental science toward the end of her undergraduate time at Spelman College in Atlanta. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what I liked, I just knew I was interested in the impacts of industry and manufacturing on people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually she was accepted into University of Miami’s environmental science graduate program, focusing on marine ecosystems. \u201cI wanted to figure out the impacts of microplastics on the ocean, and in my reading and research I landed on fashion as a major contributor to landfill waste, and synthetic fibers that end up in the ocean,\u201d she says. An internship at a New York-based recycler called Fabscrap<\/a> opened Miller\u2019s eyes to the scale of waste occurring. \u201cI thought it would be really cool to bring something similar to Detroit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And being in Detroit, all of Miller\u2019s first clients were automotive. \u201cWe just started off doing small local pickups and we\u2019ve grown from there,” she says. “The biggest challenge has been finding the capacity to deal with large amounts of waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Miller took a risk and bought the warehouse, but she has struggled with the competition against traditional waste disposal methods \u2013 like landfills. It\u2019s far cheaper for a company to send their waste to a landfill than to pay NexTiles to dispose of their waste ethically.  \u201cPrice point, we\u2019re not a landfill competitor \u2013 we\u2019re many times the price of what it costs an organization to just landfill their waste,\u201d she says. For that reason, she leans on the corporate responsibility element when she pitches to companies on why they should be upcycling their waste materials, rather than dumping them in landfills. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s still a struggle persuading them,\u201d Miller says. \u201cWe’re fortunate to have a pretty steady stream of companies that reach out to us just because there aren’t many people doing what we do. But when we want to go after a client that’s never heard of us, that is not being held accountable for landfilling their waste, then it becomes a bit more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller and her team are in a \u201cconstant cycle of innovation,\u201d needing to figure out how they\u2019re going to upcycle waste materials before they take on new clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller is now also studying for a Ph.D., with her doctoral research focusing on energy efficiency and affordability in public housing. She hopes eventually to return to her original ambition, which is to upcycle textile waste and make building insulation for social housing which she can sell directly. Currently she sends the raw material to insulation companies who manipulate and treat the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA big ambition of mine,\u201d Miller says, \u201cis to manufacture our own housing insulation products that can be sold in big box hardware stores.\u201d ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story has been updated to correct Miller’s name and father’s occupation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n \n \n