Conference Programmes

The circular economy needs tangible targets. Any plan needs agreement around the baseline measurement, to create indicators for the business to understand whether or not it is making progress and to understand the impact it is having on business performance overall. The decisions made in the early stages will contribute to reduced emissions, greater reuse and lower waste levels. This opening panel will ask how organisations set metrics and measurements when developing a plan.

How can we move beyond siloed approaches to adopt a whole-economy solution for circularity? Often, the most basic ideas - which don't cost much - have the highest impact on sustainability. These presentations will provide success stories within the circular economy, looking at how companies and people were incentivised to embrace and contribute to a plan, including financially, and how this resulted in measurable benefits. 

• 11.35 Talk 1 
• 11.50 Talk 2

There needs to be a clear definition on the difference between CE and recycling. Usually when people hear CE, they think about recycling but this should be a last resort. The focus should be on reuse.

What are the types of waste that, whilst not a huge problem in terms of volume today, are going to become a major waste management challenge in the near future. For instance, what will happen with end-of-life solar materials, or batteries from electric vehicles? How will we these be viewed - an opportunity for reuse or recycling, or a waste material that needs to be managed sustainably? This session will identify the upcoming waste material challenges, and discuss ways these can be dealt with that brings benefit for all

Zero waste principles focus on waste prevention. They do this by redesigning resource life cycles, so that products are repurposed or reused. The goal is to avoid sending waste to landfill or a waste-to-energy plant. If this approach to dealing with waste is to succeed what policies and practices need to be place? Are classifications around waste types clear enough. Zero waste could be a critical pillar in government efforts to reduce waste; this panel will discuss who needs to support it, and how.

What are the trade-offs between circularity initiatives and climate change mitigation? To make impacts on social and climate/sustainability side, we need to look at the volumes - industrial facilities and landfill. Too often instead of focusing on solutions in the industrial sector - which can be harder - the focus goes to office/consumers/homes.

Like other sectors, the waste management industry is trying to decarbonise. It is taking different approaches - for instance embracing circular economy approaches to how it deals with waste. But what about within the organisations themselves? What are they doing to decarbonise their businesses? These presentations outline some of the current efforts and ideas. 

• 11.45 Talk 1 
• 12.00 Talk 2 
• 12.15 Talk 3

Organisations are trying to commercialise different parts of the waste cycle and circular economy. Where money can be made, investment can be attracted, and new ideas fostered and scaled. This discussion will focus on projects that use biogenic feedstock to create sustainable products such as aviation fuel from waste, asking what the challenges are, can these projects move from interesting pilot to commercial scale products, if there are the volumes of feedstock required and more.

A challenge for growing the circular economy is the cost of recycling, which includes collecting and cleaning waste versus the cost of manufacturing a virgin product or material. How does the waste sector make money from the circular economy, and at what point is reuse or recycling no longer economically viable?

Waste to energy is the end point in any reuse, recycle strategy within the circular economy. It can also be an important part of landfill diversion plans, and help divert potential future methane buildup that is subsequently released into the atmosphere. But given that it is an endpoint in a material's lifecycle, it is also argued that W2E discourages circular economy initiatives. This update will look at how W2E initiatives fit within a country's circular economy plans, progress of plants, their impact on circular economy growth, and challenges that still need to be tackled, such as waste segregation.