Program

MAY 17 - 19, 2022 | ATLANTA, INTERCONTINENTAL BUCKHEAD

ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN TIME (EST). PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

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Tuesday, May 17th, 2022

8:00am to 9:00am

Breakfast & Registration Check-in Opens

Break

Windsor Garden & Pre-Function

9:00am to 12:00pm

Tools of the Trade: How to Measure and Standardize Circularity

Tutorial

Trippe II & III

What is the landscape of standards, metrics and tools measuring the transition to a circular economy, and how can your organization leverage them in practice?

To advance a more circular strategy, system or economy, it is time to move beyond theoretical, anecdotal success towards data-driven decisions and outcomes. Yet the landscape of metrics, standards and tools measuring circularity is nascent and evolving. What tools exist to measure circular outcomes, and which will best serve your strategy? What are the intended applications for these tools, and how can your organization leverage them in practice?

This half-day tutorial will explore the leading technologies and tools measuring circular success. A fireside chat will explore the humble — yet critical — life-cycle assessment, followed by deep-dive use cases and instructive explorations for the leading tools measuring circularity: Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard, World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Circular Transition Indicators and The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circulytics.

Scaling Circular Fashion

Tutorial

Hope I & II

What are the leading trends and innovations in the world of circular fashion, and what will it take to bring these strategies to scale?

It’s no secret that the fashion industry has an environmental problem: The global fashion industry accounts for 10 percent of global carbon emissions, 20 percent of wastewater and relies on 98 million tons of non-renewable resources each year. And this is to say nothing of the dwindling life cycle of clothing and the resulting waste of more than 10 million tons of textile waste each year in U.S. landfills alone. The need for urgent action is clear.

Fashion is ripe for a redesign, and applying circular principles to every phase of a garment’s lifespan has the power to revitalize and reimagine the industry as we know it. Revised design principles and new business models — like resale, rental, and repair — can extend product life and redefine ownership. Technological breakthroughs can enable new textiles made from recycled materials and biological sources. Redesigned recycling systems, manufacturing processes and supply chain flows can reduce inefficiencies and prioritize sustainable solutions.

This half-day tutorial will follow a garment’s trajectory from sourcing and design to the business model within which it’s sold to its end of life management, uncovering leading circular solutions along the way. Bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders from across the apparel value chain, together we’ll explore what it will take to redesign the apparel industry of today.

The Race to 2025: Achieving Plastics & Packaging Goals

Tutorial

Venetian I & II

What will it take to move beyond packaging commitments to meaningful action?

Compostable, recyclable, renewable, reusable or made from recycled content. From fashion to food and beverage to consumer packaged goods and beyond, diverse sectors have announced 2025 packaging goals with these commitments front and center. Now comes the hard part. Many of these goals require significant internal action, not to mention functioning external circular systems, like reliable sources of recycled content or composting and recycling infrastructure at scale. What will it take to accomplish your company’s goals?

This half-day tutorial will feature brands that are leading the charge towards 2025 — along with the solutions they’re leveraging. Together we’ll dive deep into the plastics value chain, explore the importance and use cases for various tools — including a tutorial on the Plastics IQ tool and a dialogue on plastic offsets — all while creating opportunities for meaningful networking across industries and value chains.

Ready, Set, Circularity: Setting Strategy and Kick-Starting Organizational Readiness

Tutorial

Venetian V & VI

How can you build an effective, comprehensive organizational strategy, and what it will take to upskill your workforce to achieve it?

The benefits of circularity can ripple throughout a business and its supply chain, creating opportunity and disruption in its wake. But no matter how visionary, a circular economy strategy will only translate into real-world impact if it breaks through silos and takes hold across an organization and its ecosystem.

In this half-day tutorial, we’ll hear from leaders that have established comprehensive circular economy strategies that touch on diverse departments — from design to supply chain management to marketing. Together we’ll map your organization's ecosystem, uncovering partners and collaborators across your organization, supply and value chain that can help you in your journey towards an effective circular transition.

9:00am to 11:00am

SCAD VIP Tour: Circularity and Design for Sustainability

Activity

This tour welcomes Circularity 22 attendees to the SCAD Atlanta campus to inform you about the launch of our Design for Sustainability program as a virtual and asynchronous study modality. University leadership will take you on a tour of the Atlanta facilities connected to Circularity: Fashion, Interior Design, Industrial Design, and UX.

Life cycle design and Design for Sustainability have long been an integral part of many of SCAD’s top-ranked degree programs. Following the tour of the facilities, we will host you in our Design for Sustainability room to introduce our program with a focus on Cradle2Cradle, circularity, life cycle analysis, systems thinking, behavior change, and biomimicry. Learn about the new possibilities of studying Design for Sustainability anywhere, anytime, at your own pace. We look forward to you meeting faculty and students who are shaping the future.

*Bus will leave promptly, please meet at the entrance to the Intercontinental Buckhead

12:00pm to 1:30pm

Lunch & Expo

Lunch

Windsor Garden & Pre-Function

12:45pm to 1:30pm

Registration Check-in Opens (for all passholders)

Break

Windsor Pre-Function

1:30pm to 1:38pm

Welcome to Circularity

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

1:38pm to 1:48pm

Old Dog, New Tricks: Why Now is the Time to Instigate New Behaviors Around Consumption and Waste

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

Ninety-five percent of people in the United States believe recycling helps the environment and 76 percent of us say recycling helps us feel better about all the stuff we buy. And you know what? They think that way because all of us in business and marketing have taught them to think that way over the last 40 years. If you go back 60, 80 or 100 years, we thought about purchasing, consumption and waste differently. That means we can indeed teach everybody to engage with a new system — and now is the time to do it.

The Shelton Group will share its latest insights from middle America about why now is the right time to engage consumers in a new way, to launch new consumption methodologies, and inspire practitioners to get to work.

1:53pm to 2:13pm

From Ambition to Accountability: How to (Actually) Solve the Plastics Waste Crisis

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

By now, we all know the scale of the problem: Up to 13 million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean every year; this is equivalent to dumping one garbage truck full of plastic waste into the ocean every minute; without intervention, we’ll have more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. These facts and figures frame reports, press releases and microsites, and stakeholders along the plastics value chain have made ambitious commitments to tackle this global crisis.

What will it take to address the plastic waste crisis? The solution set is relatively clear: Target the production, design and disposal of plastics and packaging; invest in infrastructure and recycling technologies; establish and harmonize policy; center communities and climate. It will take a portfolio approach and an all-of-the-above solution set.

But if you ask most practitioners outside of the corporate sector — scientists, NGOs, startups — the threat of this crisis is only increasing. Even with a widespread consensus around the facts, figures and necessary interventions, we aren’t doing enough and we aren’t moving fast enough.

Join this keynote for a candid conversation about what it will actually take to solve the plastics waste crisis at scale and move from good intentions to meaningful impact.

2:13pm to 2:16pm

Lightning Talks: Big Ideas, Briefly

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

This series of fast-paced, lightning talks will offer big ideas, provocations and perspectives from a diversity of speakers in a short amount of time.

2:19pm to 2:24pm

Introducing the Circularity 22 Emerging Leaders

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

The Emerging Leaders program aims to elevate, cultivate and support the next generation of BIPoC leaders driving the transition to a circular economy. The program creates a pathway into the circular industry for students and early-career professionals who face barriers to entry in the field, and wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend Circularity 22.

2:24pm to 2:34pm

Innovation at the Intersection: Where the Human-Built and Natural Worlds Meet

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

In order for humans to survive, thrive and protect the planet, we’ll have to find a way to innovate with nature, not against it. Where do we start?

A series of five cycles connects the human-built world to the natural world. They are stable ecosystems, regeneration, materials metabolism, recycling, and use and reuse. The intersection of use and reuse with our stable ecosystems provides a working definition of sustainability. Recognition of these intersections enables a blueprint for how to help invent future technologies and products that accomplish the goals of a circular economy.

2:34pm to 2:37pm

Big Little Talks Competition Winner

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

2:37pm to 2:57pm

The Tipping Point: Competitors Collaborating Toward Circularity

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

It’s clear that to achieve the level of systems change necessary for a circular economy, the world’s largest companies will need to band together to reach impact at scale. In practice, some large brands are open to collaboration and some aren’t — and the words “collaboration” and “partnership” are used to describe a significant range of activities, from meaningful relationships to more optical alliances.

In this conversation, we’ll explore what it takes for a brand to willingly collaborate with its competitors in order to advance circularity for an entire industry. This session will explore how brands can gain buy-in, overcome barriers and ultimately work together with the most unlikely bedfellows of all.

2:57pm to 3:00pm

Closing

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

3:00pm to 4:00pm

Networking Break & Expo

Break

Windsor Pre-Function

Zero Waste Tour with WM

Activity

Windsor Pre-Function

Join WM on a Zero Waste Tour to understand what goes into creating a zero waste event like Circularity 22, from working with vendors and engaging attendees to setting procurement requirements and coordinating waste services. This 30-minute tour will provide insight into the collaboration that goes on behind the scenes. Meet outside of the Windsor Ballroom at the start of the break to participate in the tour.

3:15pm to 3:25pm

Ground Yourself in Optimism

Activity

Park Lane

Take a moment to ground yourself both internally and into the Earth as we root ourselves in optimism.

4:00pm to 5:00pm

How to Co-Design with Nature

Breakout

Hope III

How can looking to nature unlock circular pathways and financial benefit, and how can your organization tactically leverage biological solutions?

Harnessing nature's design principles and manufacturing capabilities has the power to unlock $30 trillion of economic activity over the next 30 years. The level of opportunity should come at no surprise, given nature’s regenerative, circular model. Plants, animals (including humans!), and the environment all contribute to the carbon and water cycles, in which basic molecules are continuously repurposed into something more complex, and then returned to their original state. As we continue to learn more about nature and biology, more and more pathways are emerging that are radically changing chemistry, materials, systems, and processes of the future.

In this session, the Biomimicry Institute staff will lead an engaging workshop about how companies large and small can bring biology and nature into their work. We’ll explore Boston Consulting Group's “nature co-design" report; facilitate a hands-on activity to model how to bring nature into internal R&D groups; and share examples and insights about how to work with university groups that are at the leading edge of the field.

Bending Behaviors: How to Effectively Engage Consumers

Breakout

Venetian V & VI

How can companies shift consumer behaviors to advance circular outcomes?

What do recycling, reusable packaging and rentals all have in common? They rely on consumer behavior to succeed. From renting a dress to successfully using a blue bin, the consumer plays an active role in returning materials and ensuring circular outcomes. But when a consumer is unfamiliar or unwilling to participate, circular initiatives and business models can fail. How can you encourage your consumer to change their behavior and ensure circular success? Join this panel to learn from practitioners who are studying and provoking consumer behavior change.

Preserving Biodiversity through Circularity

Breakout

Trippe I

How can the transition to a circular economy support the preservation of biodiversity?

With more than one million species under threat of extinction, the natural world is facing threats from every direction. Among numerous, staggering repercussions loss of biological diversity represents a significant business risk as over half of global GDP depends on natural resources and services. Can a circular economy help mitigate risk and reverse this trend? While circular principles will not solve this problem alone, they do have the power to alleviate pressure on biological sources while regenerating living systems. What role does the circular economy play in preserving biodiversity, and what strategies can your company employ to protect the natural world? Join this session to hear from experts and practitioners tackling this question.

Tracking & Traceability: the Technology Enabling Circular Systems

Breakout

Trippe II & III

How can tracking and traceability enable a more circular system, and how should your company leverage these technologies?
There is a growing number of tools and innovations to help companies track materials, goods and services. These technologies include RFID, QR codes, IoT, watermarks and blockchain, and enable a host of benefits: more transparent supply chains; simplified take-back and reverse logistics; a frictionless user experience; and more efficient management of materials and products at the end of their useful life. Is the wide-spread adoption of these technologies key to an effective circular economy, and if so what value can they unlock for your company, customers and the planet? Join this session to hear from practitioners leveraging these technologies to build more circular, sustainable ecosystems for their products.

Is this Recyclable? Criteria, Claims and Questions

Breakout

Venetian I & II

What does it mean for packaging to be recyclable, and what process is needed to confirm recyclability and avoid liability?

Between contentious legal battles and stringent, newly passed regulations, recyclability claims have come under scrutiny in recent months. Is a piece of packaging recyclable when it’s theoretically feasible to recycle it, or only when it’s recycled in practice? How often are specific packaging designs recycled in practice, and can this data truly be collected? When is the chasing arrows symbol instructive, and when is it false advertising? Join this session as we unravel these questions and more to demystify the confusing world of recyclability claims.

The Intersection of Plastics and Climate

Breakout

Hope I & II

What are the climate implications of using plastic packaging, and how should we collectively navigate tradeoffs between plastics and carbon emissions at the corporate, local and national level?

5:00pm to 7:00pm

Opening Networking Reception

Networking

Windsor Garden

Wednesday, May 18th, 2022

7:00am to 7:30am

Circular Flow

Activity

Venetian I & II

Come dressed for sport to join a Nike Trainer for a 30-minute yoga flow session focusing on the importance of personal health.

8:00am to 9:00am

Breakfast & Expo

Break

Windsor Garden & Pre-Function

9:00am to 10:00am

Addressing Scope 3 Emissions with Circularity

Breakout

Venetian I & II

How can cities reduce Scope 3 emissions? And how can circular strategies help?

A small but growing body of evidence shows that circular economy approaches, including reuse and composting, can help cities reduce Scope 3 emissions. You’ll hear from a forward-thinking NGO that has quantified these benefits and a sustainability leader who is putting these ideas into action in one of America’s major cities.

How to: Resale — Recommerce Solutions Showcase

Breakout

Venetian V & VI

What are the leading platform solutions for apparel resale, and how can they help you launch a resale business model?

Growing 25 times faster than the retail market and projected to be double the size of fast fashion by 2030, resale, also known as recommerce, has stolen headlines and hearts throughout the last year. The resale of worn or returned consumer products holds tremendous promise for the apparel industry, diverting substantial landfill waste and representing a rapidly growing revenue opportunity with a market valued at $20 billion. But with platforms cropping up left and right and eye-popping valuations stealing headlines each month, it’s hard to keep up with the buzz. In this session, the industry’s preeminent resale solutions will showcase their platform and services. Come with questions and curiosity as we dive into the landscape of recommerce solutions.

Meet your MRF: Behind the Scenes of a Recycling Facility

Breakout

Trippe I

And what can MRFs teach you about aligning your packaging strategy with recycling infrastructure?

Materials recovery facilities, known as MRFs, are taken for granted. This critical infrastructure is a cornerstone of a circular economy for packaging, ensuring materials from residential and commercial recycling programs are sorted and sold as commodities — but only if packaging producers, brands, retailers and consumers set them up for success. It’s time to meet your MRF for a behind-the-scenes look at these facilities.

MRF operators from across the country will share how MRFs work today, including the latest technological innovations in sorting, regional and facility-specific differences; why facilities can and can’t adjust to changes in the packaging landscape; and what other value chain partners need to know about recyclability in residential programs. Come with your questions to better understand the system that your packaging and products are entering into — and what steps you can take to enable your products and packages return back to the economy.

You Are What You Teach: How to Upskill Your Organization for Circularity

Breakout

Hope I & II

How can you educate and upskill your workforce on the complexity of circularity, and what will it take to enable their success as your organization pursues a more circular future?

Launching circular strategies — from piloting new business models to sourcing recycled materials to designing and taking back products with a new life in mind — requires new positions, mindsets and skills. Workers across your organization — and throughout the supply and value chain — will need relevant expertise and mindsets to adapt to this new approach to business. But what does it take to effectively explain the circular economy to your colleagues and teammates? What knowledge base does your work force need to pursue a circular strategy? What will a just, equitable transition look like and how can your company upskill both your workers and those your company relies on? Join this session to dive into what it will take to upskill your organization for circularity.

Packaging Policy Debrief: The State & Federal Landscape

Breakout

Trippe II & III

What is the current landscape of recently passed and proposed packaging and recycling legislation, and what is the industry's role in advancing these policies?

When it comes to our nation’s packaging and recycling policy, the time for dramatic change is now: President Biden has made fighting climate change and boosting environmental protection a crucial focus of the new administration. The EPA has set a recycling goal of 50 percent by 2030 and recently appropriated $1.5 million to collecting detailed data on the recycling system nationwide. At the same time, two states – Maine and Oregon – were the first in the country to pass extended producer responsibility laws covering packaging and California passed a labeling law that will change the way recyclability can be communicated to consumers in our largest state. And the legislative efforts are just beginning, with new bills under consideration and debate, the state of packaging and recycling policy at the state and federal levels is in flux. Join this session to uncover the state of national policy, its implications for industry now and how your company can engage in the policymaking process and advance our national recycling system in the future.

Innovation Through Green Chemistry: A Conversation with John Warner

Breakout

Hope III

What are the latest innovations in green chemistry and how can your organization leverage this science to create safer, circular products?

The field of chemistry holds tremendous power to unlock the circular economy at scale. It is the building block to create safe, recyclable materials and processes.

John Warner, co-founder of the field of green chemistry, asks us to “Imagine a world where all segments of society demanded environmentally benign products! Imagine if all consumers, all retailers and all manufacturers insisted on buying and selling only non-toxic materials!” Join John for a discussion about innovation in green chemistry and how brands and manufacturers can embrace this science in their businesses and in their supply chains.

10:00am to 10:30am

Networking Break & Expo

Break

Windsor Pre-Function

10:30am to 10:33am

Opening

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

10:33am to 10:53am

Enabling Supply Chain Traceability, Transparency and Trust

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

The number of touchpoints in a circular supply chain add up quickly — from official partners such as local retailers, manufacturers, packaging organizations and recycling companies to informal participants, including the individual waste pickers who help collect discarded items for processing in emerging economies.

How can companies gather better data across that complex network? After all, when it comes to ESG matters, the things your company doesn’t know could hinder meaningful progress toward commitments. And failure to understand and disclose risks to investors, employees, consumers and other stakeholders could become a reputational threat.

During this conversation, the speakers will share insights about practical and effective ways of collecting information that can help companies develop a better understanding of progress toward waste management and recycling goals; enforce and uphold corporate human rights policies; and create more equitable systems for rewarding vulnerable participants. We’ll discuss how these efforts can create a virtuous circle of traceability, transparency and trust.

10:53am to 10:59am

Lightning Talks: Bold Ideas, Briefly

Keynote

11:03am to 11:13am

The Global Treaty on Plastic is a Once In a Lifetime Opportunity... If We Seize It

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

Atmospheres and oceans don't adhere to state lines, and neither can our solutions to the issues that plague our planet. Plastic pollution is found in every corner of the world, and up until now, country-level action has not been enough to turn off the tap of plastic waste flowing into our environment.

Earlier this year however, the United Nations made history by voting in favor of a Global Treaty on Plastic. With this incredible momentum and commitment from around the world, corporate sustainability leaders now have a chance to make solving the plastic crisis a part of their legacy. This talk will explore this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver on key environmental agendas from start to finish.

11:13am to 11:38am

Accelerate at Circularity 22 Pitch Session

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

Accelerate is a fast-pitch competition featuring entrepreneurs with innovative technologies, products and services advancing a circular economy. Five finalists will pitch from the Circularity main stage to two industry experts and an audience of investors, businesspeople, government officials and thought leaders. Hear expert reactions to each pitch, and then cast your vote to help determine the winner.

11:38am to 11:58am

Tried, Failed, Learned

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

Failure is an inevitability on the path to success. While companies and practitioners are keen to share wins, many of us won’t admit to the scale of the challenges we endure. Working to implement circular economy solutions inside a company, it can often feel like the job is made up of more challenges than successes, whether or not we’d like to admit it.

In this candid conversation, two veterans of corporate sustainability will discuss their experiences advancing circularity at scale. Between navigating change management, internal influence and external partnership, the job isn’t easy. This panel will get real about when things don’t go according to plan, what we can learn from those experiences and what it takes to be resilient in the face of challenges. The speakers will share advice on how to overcome those failures, learn from them and ultimately succeed.

11:58am to 12:00pm

Closing

Keynote

Windsor Ballroom

12:00pm to 1:30pm

Materials Flows for Textile-to-Textile Recycling

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Materials move between consumers, collectors and sorters, recyclers and fiber producers. What are the materials, volumes and logistics that are needed to create robust circular textile-to-textiles systems? Clarifying these flows are key to the move forward.

Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Lunch & Expo

Lunch

Windsor Garden & Pre-Function

Leveraging Carbon and Plastic Offsets

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

How can these tools work in conjunction with long-term strategic plans to reduce emissions and waste? Whether a layman or an expert, join this conversation as we explore the intersection of carbon and plastic offset credits.

Designing Out Waste in Consumer Apparel Products

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

What makes a product circular can have a different meaning depending on the product category and the geographical opportunities for end-of-life management, but what is constant across all definitions is the need to reduce and eliminate waste. From materials to components to packaging, design decisions directly impact a product's circularity. Join this discussion to discuss the trade-off decisions companies and designers need to consider when incorporating circularity into their products, and where standards and validations can help.

Collaborating With Trade Associations

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

What is the role for trade associations in enabling a more circular economy? Join this roundtable for an open discussion about how companies are or could work with their trade associations to address circular economy needs, ranging from education and benchmarking to collaboration and advocacy.

Tactics for Weighing and Selecting Circular, Sustainable Materials

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Choosing a sustainable, alternative material is more than calculating a carbon footprint. Many clients ask us how to select more circular or sustainable materials. The answer: It depends. Is your criteria chemicals of concern, the material’s carbon footprint, whether it’s animal welfare-certified, does it have functional requirements: sterile, water proof, food safe, etc.? The criteria for sustainability must also be weighed against considerations of cost, supply chain availability or limitations, and other trade-offs. Participants of this roundtable will learn key tactics for a more robust approach to sustainable material selection, while ensuring that material serves the functional purpose of the product.

This roundtable is sponsored by Anthesis. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

How EPR Can Drive Circularity in the US

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

There is growing recognition that the transition to a circular economy depends on policy action to drive cross-sector coordination, investment and systems change. States are increasingly looking at extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies as one such tool. Join the City of Seattle to discuss how EPR can and should be used to drive toward circularity in the U.S.

Digitization: Enabling a Circular Bioeconomy for Plastics

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Is it really bio-based and sustainable? These are questions that will be increasingly important in a circular economy for polymers, building on bio-based or renewable sources. Credibility and transparency become key success factors in the industry’s transformation. There is an urgent need to trace and track material flows — from input through different processes to product. Digitization will play a major role in securing this traceability. Isabella Tonaco, vice president of strategy execution and marketing at Neste Renewable Polymers and Chemicals, and Phil Brown, vice president of business development and strategy at Circularise, will host this discussion. They will share lessons from Neste’s business of replacing fossil resources with renewable and recycled ones, and Circularise’s solution to facilitate the shift to circularity via blockchain-based technologies. You will hear about solutions already available today as well as future technologies — and the challenges that lay ahead and how to solve them.

This roundtable is sponsored by Neste. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Accelerating the Adoption of Solutions to Cut Food Waste

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

A circular food system prevents food from going to waste, rescues surplus food for people in need, and transforms food remnants and byproducts into inputs for new products. More innovation is needed — but lots of viable, scalable, effective solutions exist right now. So how can we continue to drive progress among food business leaders, funders, innovators and policymakers?

Designing a Circular Food Economy: Policy, Financing, Barriers and Solutions

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Join this roundtable lunch to discuss creating a circular food economy. Key topics will include the role of public policy (landfill bans); government and private sector financing for infrastructure; the power of upcycling and acceleration of value creation; and the intersection of plastics both as a contaminant and as a compostable in recycling and upcycling systems.

Lessons From Reuse Seattle

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Join Seattle Public Utilities staff to discuss various reuse system strategies under consideration by Reuse Seattle. Hear about a current citywide initiative being pursued via a public-private partnership to introduce reusables at anchor institutions in Seattle. Compare and contrast, discuss and debate various approaches to local agency support for reuse program ideas.

Tips and Tools to Accelerate Circular Packaging

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Companies like yours are setting ambitious goals to address climate change and create more sustainable packaging — but how do you navigate current system challenges and evolving policy requirements? The Recycling Partnership is bringing the industry together to both accelerate a circular economy and transform the U.S. recycling system. Sarah Dearman, vice president of circular ventures, will share resources and recently developed tools that can help your organization take action, and would like to hear from you about where the organization can plug into in order to build the system of the future together. Bring your favorite tips and tools to share.

Advancing Circularity Through Small Businesses in Global Supply Chains

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Participants of this roundtable lunch will discuss how companies can engage and work with small businesses in their global supply chains to drive circularity. Building off of an emerging case study in the food and beverage industry in Rwanda, we will discuss both the challenges and opportunities of engaging in the circularity journey. How do we partner with small businesses and entrepreneurs to drive circularity? What are emerging practices and lessons learned? How can we make circularity in supply chains more inclusive?

Scaling Solutions – How Can Innovation and Partnership Drive the Circular Economy

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Consumers and policymakers alike are demanding more sustainable packaging options, but many companies cite that the largest barrier to change has been the cost of switching. Join this discussion about how increasing efficiencies across the supply chain — through automation, responsible sourcing and other innovations — can make alternatives, such as fiber-based packaging, the best choice for businesses and consumers.

This roundtable is sponsored by WestRock. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Perspectives on Reusable Packaging for Today and the Future

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

How are consumers embracing refillable and reusable packaging today, and how will they do so in the future? In a discussion hosted by Coca-Cola, we’ll discuss today's reuse models, including what reuse behaviors are already in practice. We’ll explore what brands can learn from these models as they seek growth opportunities and ways to provide products and services with less or no packaging. We hope to have a broad-based discussion across all packaging and product types — all perspectives welcome!

This roundtable is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Demonstrating Your Circular Strategy to and Through Your Employees

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Employees are your most important and valuable asset, but are they engaged in your circularity and sustainability strategy? This session will offer the opportunity to share and hear from organizations that are effectively and frequently leveraging their human capital to be advocates for circularity and ESG initiatives.

This roundtable is sponsored by Cox Enterprises. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Focus on Flexibles: Collection Solutions for Hard-to-Recycle Packaging

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

While flexible plastic packaging achieves unprecedented results in weight reduction — reducing material use and lowering greenhouse gas emissions associated with the transportation of products — it unfortunately still poses one of the greatest recycling challenges. As a lightweight material, it is difficult if not impossible to sort and collect. Ashley Leidolf, senior marketing manager for value chain and sustainable packaging at Dow, will lead a conversation around flexible collection models, highlighting solutions that improve collection for flexible packaging, such as store drop-off programs and Hefty Energy Bag, a unique program designed to convert previously non-recycled plastics into energy.

This roundtable is sponsored by Dow. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Rethinking Business Models for a Thriving Fashion Industry

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Circular business models in the apparel sector represent an opportunity for companies to make more revenue without making new clothes. Join this roundtable to discuss opportunities and barriers to unlocking new economic and environmental benefits.

How Will You Meet Your Recycled Content Goals?

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Through the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, businesses and governments commit to changing how they produce, use and reuse plastic. For many, that means setting recycled content goals — goals that are often ambitious and seemingly far in the future. But as time passes in the blink of an eye, how will your organization meet its recycled content goals? In this roundtable discussion, participants will share their recycled content goals, plans for achieving them or obstacles they've faced along the way. Roundtable host Misty Moore, sustainability manager from Eastman, will facilitate the conversation and share how molecular recycling technologies can help organizations meet and even exceed those goals, with no impact on product performance.

This roundtable is sponsored by Eastman. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

Things Break. Then What? A Conversation on Repair

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

Let's chat about all aspects of repair: service networks, parts forecasting and distribution, DIY repairs, and Right to Repair.

Messaging to Motivate: Driving Consumer Action Through Storytelling

Round Table Lunch

Windsor Garden

To achieve circularity of products, consumer packaged goods companies rely on the actions of millions of individual consumers. How do you motivate a large, diverse population not only to invest in your sustainability story but also to act in a way that drives circularity? Join a conversation hosted by Tetra Pak, a world-leading food processing and packaging solutions company, to discuss topics such as: creative ways to message to motivate consumers using various channels; how to make the most of packaging real estate to tell your story; educating your employees to become brand ambassadors and an extension of your sustainability team.

This roundtable is sponsored by Tetra Pak. Roundtable Lunches are interactive lunch discussions, moderated by an expert or thought leader, held at roundtables of up to 10 participants. These are freeform discussions, so bring your own challenges, questions, and ideas to talk through and get to know your fellow conference participants. All roundtable lunches are first-come, first-served.

1:30pm to 2:30pm

Advancing a Global Plastics Treaty

Breakout

Hope III

Where are we on the path to a global treaty for plastics? What is the business case for advancing one, and how should the business community engage in this historic moment?

Early March 2022 marked a historic moment at the United Nations Environmental Assembly. With the fall of a gavel, 175 countries passed a resolution to pursue a legally binding plastics treaty, that will tackle all phases of the plastic life cycle. Now comes the hard part: ironing out the details of the treaty, slated to be finalized by the end of 2024. Such a global initiative could catalyze a comprehensive effort to address the plastic problem at scale, and offer significant opportunity on the path towards a circular economy for plastics. But what will it take to align nearly 200 hundred countries and thousands of stakeholders on the terms and conditions of such a treaty? How should businesses be participating in the advancement of this historic piece of legislation? Join this session to explore the state of the U.N. treaty on plastics pollution, and understand the business case for advancing it.

The Big Food Redesign: Making Nature-Positive the Norm

Breakout

Venetian V & VI

How can fundamentally redesigning food product portfolios ensure nature-positive systems?

What if food could build biodiversity and tackle climate change? Rather than bending nature to produce food, food can be designed for nature to thrive. By rethinking how ingredients are used and produced, food businesses can provide choices that are better for customers, better for farmers, and better for the environment. Circular design for food uses the principles of the circular economy and applies them across all dimensions of food design, from product concept, through ingredient selection and sourcing, to packaging. This session will describe how circular design for food – fundamentally redesigning product portfolios to use all the diverse food outputs of a nature-positive food system – offers significantly greater benefits than using the same ingredients as today, and requires sourcing them better through regenerative production.

From Apparel to Packaging: Opportunities in Bioplastics and the Bioeconomy

Breakout

Venetian I & II

What financial, regenerative, and sourcing opportunities lie in a bio-based economy, and how can your company support a sustainable transition?

Transitioning to a renewable, circular, bioeconomy is crucial. This transformation could help address climate change and biodiversity loss, avoid reliance on harmful and non-renewable materials, divert financial risk and create economic opportunity, with a market for bio-based products projected to grow to $7.7 trillion by 2030. But shifting from finite and often petroleum-derived materials to a renewable, biobased economy brings not just new solutions, but also new challenges. With competing biomass demand between food, fuel, fiber and other applications, finding the right balance to sustainably manage natural capital while remaining within planetary boundaries will be key. Join this session to explore the opportunities and limitations of biobased solutions across sectors, and how your company can support a sustainable, regenerative transition.

Designing a Circular Supply Chain with Green Chemistry

Breakout

Trippe I

What will it take to prioritize green chemistry in your supply chain?

To build an effective circular economy, designing out toxicity is imperative. Safe chemistry in will equate to safe chemistry out, and optimizing materials to enable infinite recyclability is key.

When purchasing materials, most brands and manufacturers prioritize function, aesthetics, processability and cost. Alongside those key considerations, how can organizations improve the hazard profile and circularity of the materials they purchase? And what will it take to add “made with green chemistry” to the priority list? This panel will explore how leaders in a number of sectors are learning about, reporting on and improving the chemistry of their materials — with a goal of human and environmental safety, and transparency.

A Regenerative, Inclusive Transition at Scale: The Circular City Coalition

Breakout

Hope I & II

How can authentic, meaningful social improvement align with strong economic performance?

Upstream and regenerative circular economy platforms are not new, they've just never been prioritized in the modern take-make-waste economy. The circular economy is not just about shiny new product-as-a-service businesses — it's also about celebrating, empowering and growing traditional businesses like tailors, pawn shops, cobblers and electronics repair. For many, the circular economy or circular cities remain abstract ideas, are considered a luxury or are simply deemed otherwise inaccessible for many residents. How can the circular economy create real value for historically marginalized communities? This session focuses on how companies, institutions and non-profits — when properly motivated by a common theory of change — can unlock good at scale and be a critical platform helping humanity live within the planetary boundaries.

Funding Options for Circular Economy Startups

Breakout

Trippe II & III

What will it take to advance circular innovation and collaboration, and what funding mechanisms exist to advance the circular economy transition?

The future may be circular, but how do we get there? The answer: innovation and collaboration across the ecosystem — and it’s time to reconsider the role of startups in the broader circular ecosystem. This panel will highlight the power that can be unlocked by connecting global organizations that are seeking circular innovation with disruptors seeking to scale their solutions. You will hear from companies creating new mechanisms to fund innovation, and from representatives of cross-industry partnerships that are collaboratively funding cutting-edge circular economy solutions. Learn about the challenges and opportunities related to financing the transition to the circular economy, and the role you can play in funding or scaling circular economy startups.

2:30pm to 3:00pm

Networking Break & Expo

Break

Windsor Pre-Function

Zero Waste Tour with WM

Activity

Windsor Pre-Function

2:40pm to 2:50pm

Re-Awaken Your Mind

Activity

Park Lane

Build energy in the body and re-awaken your minds for greater focus as you leave Circularity 22 and help to build the future.

3:00pm to 4:00pm

Policy Levers: EPR, DRS, and PCR minimums

Breakout

Venetian I & II

What policy levers are at play across the United States, and what tactical implications should they have on your packaging strategy?

In Maine, California and other states between them, proposed and enacted policies are leveraging extended producer responsibility (EPR), deposit return schemes (DRS) and post consumer recycled content (PCR) minimums, amongst a slew of other policy levers. These policies could improve our recycling infrastructure and make packaging more sustainable within the United States, but with shifting verbiage and unique framing from bill to bill, understanding their implications can be challenging. Join this session to deep dive into the most prominent packaging policy levers at play in the United States.

Recyclable, Compostable, Reusable: Navigating the Race to 2025

Breakout

Venetian V & VI

How can your company think holistically and prioritize reduction and elimination when setting packaging goals?

Compostable, recyclable, renewable, reusable or made from recycled content. From fashion to F&B to CPG and beyond, diverse sectors have announced 2025 packaging goals with these commitments front and center. Now comes the hard part. Many of these commitments require significant internal action not to mention functioning external circular systems, like reliable sources of recycled content or composting and recycling infrastructure at scale. What will it take to accomplish your company’s goals? Join this breakout to hear how players across the packaging value chain have navigated trade-offs, generated buy-in, developed new partnerships and made progress towards 2025 packaging goals.

Leveraging E-Waste for Rare Earth and Precious Metals Recovery

Breakout

Trippe II & III

What is the state of recycling and recovering rare earth and precious metals from electronics waste, and how must this technology evolve for future supply chain resilience?

Rare earth elements and precious metals are an essential component of modern life, critical to the electronics we rely on and to the batteries, panels and technology required for the renewable energy transition. But with limited or difficult-to-access supply, it will be essential to leverage the bounty of resources already embedded in our devices today to ensure supply chain resilience for the future. This session will discuss the technologies for recycling and recovering rare earth and other precious metals. It will explore what’s capable today, as well as the business models, infrastructure, policy and other systems needed to advance these critical solutions for the future.

Breaking it Down: Biodegradable and Compostable Packaging

Breakout

Venetian III

How should compostable packaging feature in your 2025 packaging strategy, and what will it take to make packaging compostability a viable option in the United States?

The demand for compostable packaging is on the rise — particularly amongst sustainably minded consumers — poised to grow at 17 percent annually over the next five years. Yet as organizations race to achieve recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging commitments, the conversation often begins and ends with recyclability.

Given the complex, nascent nature of the compostable packaging industry, this disconnect makes sense. There are untold considerations at play: What does it take to sustainably source compostable packaging? How effectively can it protect the product it contains? What infrastructure must be in place to ensure packaging is indeed composted? When composted, what does it take to avoid contamination? Join this session as we explore how compostable packaging should feature in your 2025 packaging strategy, and what it will take to make compostable packaging a successful, viable option in the United States.

Collaborating with Waste Collector Communities

Breakout

Hope III

What role do waste collectors play in your company’s supply chain, and how can you ensure dignity and equity when procuring recycled materials?

The demand for post consumer recycled plastics is outpacing supply. To source this high-demand feedstock companies across industries have partnered with waste collector communities to identify, sort and sell plastics to be recycled. Beyond aiding recycled-content goals, these partnerships prevent waste in the environment and open up the potential for more socially responsible sourcing. But what will it take to build a meaningful engagement with waste collectors beyond one-off partnerships? How can your company do so with equity, dignity and respect for the work of these individuals? What human rights considerations should be top of mind when engaging with workers down the supply chain? Explore these questions with representatives of waste collector communities and the companies effectively partnering with them.

Building a Net-Positive, Regenerative Business

Breakout

Trippe I

How can diverse stakeholders move beyond designing out waste and keeping products in play, to regenerating local economies and natural systems?

The promise of a circular economy includes so much more than just designing out waste and keeping molecules in play. The opportunity, and necessity, is to improve the health of every single system that we touch — from product design and manufacturing to how we engage suppliers across a value chain. What’s the opportunity for your organization to regenerate the natural systems upon which your business depends? How can we learn from nature’s ingenious design to increase value across all forms of capital? What does it take to move beyond regenerative sourcing to a truly regenerative business model? Join this session to ground regenerative principles in practice.

How to: Repair — Enabling Product Life Extension

Breakout

Hope I & II

What does it take to ensure repairability and enable your customers to extend the product life of your products?

We’ve all been there: a tablet that won’t charge, a smartphone with a cracked screen, a laptop with a faulty key. For the well used objects, broken parts are inevitable but the disposal of the product doesn't have to be.

Consider electronic waste: Clocking in at 50 million tons and valued at $57 billion annually, it is the largest growing waste stream on the planet. But what if electronics were designed for disassembly, modularity and replacement parts? What if robust repair ecosystems were available? To reverse growing waste trends and extend the life not just of products, but the carbon embedded within them, repair must be the norm. Join this session as we explore what design considerations should be prioritized when creating more repairable products, and what it takes to support and enable your customers as they extend the life of their products.

4:00pm to 4:30pm

Networking Break & Expo

Networking

Windsor Pre-Function

4:30pm to 5:30pm

The Case for Durable Design

Breakout

Trippe I

What are the implications of building long-lasting, durable products, and what opportunities arise from keeping products in service?

"They don't build things like they used to..." This age-old lament seems aptly fit for our era of single-use disposables and planned obsolescence. For the nostalgic, the quality conscious and the eco-friendly consumer, product longevity is a desirable trait. But when competing with lower production costs and repeat purchase revenue, durable doesn’t always add up to the financial value of disposable. How can you make a financial case for durability? What metrics should you weigh when considering it? Can you build customer loyalty by building to last? This session will explore these questions as it builds the case for durable design.

Equity in a New Economy: Ensuring Access and Inclusion

Breakout

Trippe II & III

How can circular systems and services enable inclusion and what does it take to design them with all communities in mind?

Ripple Effects: The Impact of EU Policy

Breakout

Hope III

What circular policies are in play in Europe and how will they impact your organization? What role should they play in the evolution of your circular strategy?

Beyond 2025: What’s Next in Circular Packaging

Breakout

Venetian V & VI

What innovations and trends will advance circular packaging beyond 2025 commitments and goals?

In the race towards compostable, recyclable, renewable, reusable and recycled content packaging, 2025 looms large. What innovations and trends in the packaging world will help us achieve these ambitious goals, and where will they take us as we look beyond 2025? Hear from packaging providers and industry leaders as we explore the next big thing in circular packaging.

ESG, meet CE: The Role of Finance in the Circular Economy

Breakout

Venetian I & II

What role can finance play in achieving ESG goals while accelerating the circular transition?

Capital is a key enabler of the circular economy, encouraging innovation and enabling transformative companies to bring their solutions to scale. As more circular economy-focused investors join the space, each comes with unique financing objectives, skills and approaches. In this session, Closed Loop Partners will convene representatives from across the capital stack and share experience from uniting diverse groups of investors –– including institutional investors and strategic corporate investors –– to scale circular supply chains and meet diverse financial and impact commitments, including ESG goals.

How Digital Product Passports Can Facilitate a More Circular Future

Breakout

Hope I & II

What are digital product passports, what data should they include and how can they facilitate a more circular future?

The European Union recently announced a requirement for all regulated products to contain a digital product passport. What are the global data requirements for these passports, and how can they act in service of a more circular economy? In this session, Capital Equipment Coalition North America members will discuss their collaboration on data requirements and a unified digital product passport. Together we’ll explore how this tool could facilitate circularity, what data can and should be measured and the responsibilities of each player across the value chain.

5:30pm to 7:00pm

Networking Reception

Networking

Windsor Garden

8:30pm to 12:00am

After Party!

Networking

Whiskey Blue

Join us for the After Party at Whiskey Blue - only a 10-minute walk from the Intercontinental Buckhead. We are kicking off at 8:30 pm on Wednesday, May 18. Enjoy a fun-filled evening with drinks and more opportunities to connect with fellow attendees!

*Please wear your badge to gain access to bar tab

Thursday, May 19th, 2022

8:00am to 9:00am

Breakfast & Expo

Break

Windsor Garden & Pre-Function

9:00am to 11:30am

Taste not Waste: Seizing the Food Waste Momentum

Workshop

Trippe II & III

How can major foodservice and retail companies overcome food waste reduction roadblocks?

The movement to address food loss and waste is going mainstream. With increased investment across the food chain and sweeping commitments by large players such as Sodexo and Walmart, momentum is at an all-time high. How can we ensure that today’s ambitious corporate commitments and investment agendas have a material impact? What role can your organization play in advancing progress?

In this interactive workshop, you will connect with other organizations, investors and businesses shaping a waste-free food future to strategize on deconstructing food waste roadblocks. Experts from Walmart, Sodexo and ReFED will explore key food waste and loss solutions trends, dive deep into two case studies and activate the group’s collective problem-solving skills. Walk away with a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities and forge new connections to follow through on food waste action.

Reusable Packaging in Practice

Workshop

Venetian I & II

What will it take to scale the implementation of reusable packaging both within your organization and across industries, cities and systems?

Recent business model innovations have seen a resurgence of reusable packaging services. Yet these operations often struggle to move beyond a pilot and into a scaled solution across industries and systems. There are dozens of relationships and tools to reconsider: partnering with retailers, consumers and logistics providers, engaging consumers, calculating a life cycle assessment, redesigning packaging for different products and digitizing tracking systems, just to name a few. What are the challenges of launching and scaling reusable packaging systems? What are the newest, innovative models being launched across the value chain? What standards and processes are needed to ensure their success? Join this long-form session to learn from practitioners providing and scaling reusable packaging solutions.

Chemical Recycling: Understanding Opportunities & Limitations

Workshop

Venetian V & VI

What role should advanced or chemical recycling play in the future of materials management, and what are its benefits and limitations?

Chemical recycling, also known as advanced recycling, has been heralded as a promising, innovative technology that holds the key to recapturing value and transforming the “broken” recycling system into a perfectly circular one. Chemical recycling has also been scrutinized as expensive, environmentally misleading and not viable, with few examples of pilots achieving scale and most losing value as examples of downcycling. The reality is somewhere in between. If no silver bullet solution exists for waste and recycling, what role should this nascent process play in material management today and in the future? What applications have proven successful for chemical recycling, and where is there still room for growth and advancement? This long-form session will explore the state of the chemical recycling market for today and tomorrow, highlighting the potential and limitations of this oft-debated technology.

The Future of Reverse Logistics

Workshop

Hope I & II

How is reverse logistics being leveraged today, what role will it play in the future of a robust circular economy, and what will it take to re-distribute goods and materials profitably and sustainably at scale?

Underpinning the circular transition, reverse logistics and the (re)distribution of previously used products has become a key enabler of the circular economy transition. While some companies are leveraging reverse logistics as a competitive advantage, investing millions into advanced robotics downstream and aiming to design out waste at product creation, many companies are still trying to define their own reverse logistics strategy and reacting to market conditions. Conversely, a new branch of reverse logistics is emerging: material reverse logistics focuses on the redistribution and repurposing of materials at scale. Given the complexity, many questions emerge.

In designing a profitable and sustainable reverse logistics strategy, where should a company begin? Why do some industries like tech seem to flourish while other industries fall behind? What role does technology play in the reverse logistics space? How can ESG be leveraged as a valuable tool to enable reverse logistics strategy internally? How does the emerging role of circular policy such as EPR and the European Green Deal factor into a company’s reverse logistics strategy? What does the future of reverse logistics look like?

Join this long-form session to learn from practitioners across diverse industries on the evolving and critical role that reverse logistics plays in the transition to a circular state.

9:00am to 10:00am

Nailing the Narrative: Embedding Circularity Into Your ESG and Communication Strategies

Breakout

Trippe I

What does it take to effectively communicate your circular strategy?

We need to ensure that circularity is understood and embraced by all. While the circular economy has become integral to many corporate sustainability strategies, companies often struggle to translate this into stories that inform and inspire employees, customers, investors, and other stakeholders. To unlock the circular economy’s full potential, effective communication is key.

Following a tumultuous year — from the health risks of COVID-19 to shipping delays, supply chain shortages, and more — global brands have begun to prioritize circularity in their ESG strategies. This session will explore how companies have continued to embrace circularity in an uncertain world, and how leading brands leverage the power of narrative to engage stakeholders on their circular ambitions, products, and service offerings.

Building a Blueprint for the Circular Electronics Industry

Breakout

Hope III

What aligned vision for circularity can be built across the electronics value chain, and what will it take to make that vision a reality?

There is no such thing as a circular product. It is the circular ecosystem — allowing a product to be collected at end of life, recovered through recycling, repair and remanufacturing and circulated back into the economy — that determines a product's circularity. In order for an industry to transition to this ecosystem, we first need to agree on what that looks like.

The electronics industry needs a circular north star, a collectively established strategic vision for the future of circular electronics. That’s why the Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP) — consisting of more than 25 companies and essential players across the electronics value chain — is set to publish a Blueprint for Circular Electronics Industry. As a foundational narrative, it will enable essential follow-up projects from supporting standard development to capacity building to advocacy and trade facilitation. Through an open dialogue with diverse industry leaders and topic experts, this session will offer a sneak peek into the latest insights of CEP’s blueprint and discuss the next steps and priorities to make this vision a reality by 2030.

10:00am to 10:30am

Networking & Expo

Networking

Windsor Garden & Pre-Function

10:30am to 11:30am

Businesses Modeling Nature: Transforming Manufacturing with Industrial Symbiosis

Breakout

Trippe I

What is the state of industrial ecology and the transformation of carbon, and what will it take to evolve these practices towards a more circular economy?

Industrial ecology encompasses some big ideas. It is an approach that uses sophisticated tools to help us rethink how we make things today to preserve materials and energy. We'll look at examples of how to scale up collaborative solutions to support our journey from linear to circular.

Justice-Centered Strategies: Regenerating Communities Through Economic Inclusion

Breakout

Hope III

What does it take to launch community enterprises that prioritize those most harmed by the linear economy, and how can you meet your sustainability goals with justice-centered strategies?

Communities most harmed by the linear economy’s wastefulness must be central in the design and implementation of a new, circular and just economy. In pursuit of that ideal, Microsoft partnered with the Just Transition PowerForce — an advisory committee of U.S.-based environmental and climate justice organizations — to align zero-waste strategies and circular initiatives with community regeneration.

This session will unveil key learnings and outcomes from the partnership, including an established framework for measuring and evaluating environmental justice and opportunities to advance justice-centered strategies while meeting sustainability goals. Together we’ll explore an Atlanta-based pilot project geared towards co-creating and incubating community-led and -owned zero waste enterprises, designed to bring more Black-owned suppliers and partners into its business ecosystem.