Program

The Circularity 19 Program is evolving and subject to change. Stay informed of changes by subscribing to our event updates.

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Tuesday, June 18th, 2019

7:45am to 8:30am

Breakfast & Registration

Break

Atrium

8:00am to 12:15pm

Circularity Summit: Packaging and Brand Integrity (Invite-Only)

Summit

Minnesota Room

A growing number of consumer brands are exploring new packaging types, whether in response to direct pressures or in pursuit of new business models and revenue streams. But doing so is not without peril. First and foremost, companies must maintain their brand integrity and value proposition while they tweak or transform one of their principal assets: their branded packaging. In this half-day, invitation-only event, representatives from the plastics and packaging value chains, along with leading packaged goods companies, will explore the promise and pitfalls for brands seeking to transition packaging to circular materials and models.

Request an invite to the summit here.

8:30am to 12:15pm

Foundations of the Circular Economy

Tutorial

St. Croix 1

This half-day tutorial, designed for attendees from all sectors and backgrounds and presented by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will provide a foundational understanding of the circular economy — a model that fundamentally reimagines the traditional “take-make-waste” linear industrial model in favor of a system that designs out waste and pollution, decouples economic growth from natural resource consumption, increases resource productivity and regenerates natural systems.

The first part of the tutorial session will tour through our circular economy journey to date. From theory through to action, The Foundation team will start by explaining the guiding principles and then take participants through a series of case study examples which illustrate circular design spanning products, business models, and system level innovations.

To some, the circular economy concept can feel academic and detached from reality. The second part of the session will take a more in depth look at how we can 'sell in' and convince stakeholders to invest in circular economy initiatives. Much of the work concentrating on the circular economy to date has centred on deep analysis of the broader economic opportunity. Translating the theory into practical opportunities for colleagues working at the coal-face of operations, or executives faced with competing priorities, can present a critical challenge.

Fortunately, the circular economy is a big idea with many entry points. Significant work has already been completed by many diverse organisations of all sizes to demonstrate that the theoretical upside can be translated to real commercial opportunities today. Some of these organisations are already taking giant leaps towards circular economy models.

Circular Packaging 101

Tutorial

Wayzata Bay

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition will traverse the most important considerations around recovering packaging, ensuring packaging is recoverable, and using recovered materials as inputs for new packaging in the Circular Packaging 101 workshop. With a keen emphasis on the business case for sustainable packaging and consumer perceptions around sustainable packaging, we'll discuss best-in-class examples of strategies to optimize packaging for different channels, designing a package to be successfully recycled or composted, and best practices for sourcing virgin and recycled materials. To put it all in context, we'll explore challenges and opportunities around recycling and composting infrastructure, as well as what happens when waste escapes collection and becomes ocean pollution. Throughout the workshop, we'll touch on corporate goals around each topic and look at both incremental and radical approaches to reaching them.

The Amazing Race (to Circular Business Models): Insights from the Fashion Industry

Tutorial

St. Croix 2

There is race among apparel and footwear companies, with both new and established players vying to unlock the potential benefits of circular business models. The insights generated in the process can help inform broader innovation across many other industries in a transition to a circular economy.

Join this tutorial to learn how the fashion industry’s experience illustrates key elements in building a circular business model. Participants will be invited to take part in a fun, interactive competition to better understand the challenges and opportunities companies face when testing and scaling new models.

Facilitated by World Resources Institute (WRI) and QSA Partners, the session will review the innovations needed to overcome an “implementation gap” between talk and testing. WRI and QSA will share early insights on behalf of a group of organizations—supported by C&A Foundation’s Bridging the Gap initiative—working with fashion industry leaders to put circular economy ideas into action.

(No experience in the fashion industry necessary. Only shirts and shoes required.)

8:30am to 10:00am

Target Field Tour (Sign-up required)

Activity

Join us for a tour of Target Field! During your guided 90-minute tour of Target Field, you'll see areas of the ballpark many guests normally don't see. These spaces may include the Herb Carneal Press Box, clubhouse, dugout, suite level, Bat & Barrel, Delta SKY360 Club, Budweiser Roof Deck, and Thompson Reuters Champions Club. Guests will be exposed to the art work, displays of memorabilia, environmental and sustainability features of Target Field, as well as Twins history. Sign up for the tour here.

12:15pm to 1:30pm

Lunch

Atrium and 6th Floor

1:30pm to 1:50pm

Welcome to Circularity

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Welcome to Circularity 19! Our opening will set some context, frame the program and offer suggestions about how to get the most out of your week at Circularity 19.

1:50pm to 2:00pm

The Principles of a Circular Economy and The Story so Far

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

What do we mean by "circular economy," and where are we on the path towards more circular systems? Ashima Sukhdev, government & cities program lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will help set the scene for the days to come and bring us up to speed on the story so far.

2:00pm to 2:10pm

A Circular Google: Our Mission to Make the Circular Economy a Reality

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

By 2030 the circular economy is estimated to be worth $4.5 trillion in economic output. But what if that’s an underestimate? For the last three years, Google has been working to make circular principles a reality across infrastructure, operations, and products, from data center servers to food waste in its cafes. But what does it take for a company with Google’s scale and complexity to become a circular business? And can technology speed our journey to a circular future? Hear from Kate Brandt, Google Sustainability Officer, on the global tech company’s plans to transform Google, and offer others the chance to do the same, as the circular economy becomes reality.

2:10pm to 2:30pm

Scaling the Idea

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

What will it take to sieze the current moment, leverage the buzz around the circular economy and scale circularity across value chains and regions? This conversation will explore how the circular economy movement is playing out globally, and what’s likely to happen in the coming months and years.

2:30pm to 2:40pm

Plastic Waste: A Solvable Global Challenge

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Plastic – miracle material or environmental scourge? It’s changed our lives, in many ways for the better, but it has also inadvertently become a problem of an almost unimaginable scale. It’s a problem that’s global, visible, harmful AND solvable. This presentation will set the context of the current plastic waste crisis and the urgency and opportunities to tackle the problem.

2:40pm to 2:55pm

Ray of Hope Prize

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Biomimicry accelerates the kinds of breakthroughs we need to achieve a circular economy. But getting those breakthroughs all the way from concept to commercialization is a difficult journey. That’s why, with the help of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation, the Biomimicry Institute created the Biomimicry Launchpad, an accelerator that supports biomimicry entrepreneurs as they take early-stage, nature-inspired solutions to market, deploying the circular, regenerative solutions we need right now.

Seven international teams have spent the past year working with experts and mentors to bring their biomimicry innovations closer to market. These teams will take the stage at Circularity 19 to find out who will win the world’s premiere biomimicry design award, the $100,000 Ray of Hope Prize®, sponsored by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. A $25,000 second prize from an anonymous donor will also be awarded.

Join us live at Circularity to meet the seven teams who are pioneering new, nature-inspired climate change and sustainability solutions and find out who will bring home the grand prize!

Click here to find out more about the seven teams who will compete for the Ray of Hope Prize at Circularity 19.

2:55pm to 3:05pm

Not Just Circular, But Safe

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

A Circular Economy is only good when it circulates “goods.” Join William McDonough as he discusses the importance of first ensuring that materials are safe and healthy when designing for circularity. McDonough will describe how applying “The Five Goods” of Cradle to Cradle Design™ to molecules, products, the fashion industry, buildings, landscapes, cities and ecosystems – even global crises such as plastic pollution – can productively and intelligently transform design to make sure when we recycle, we are not in a state of circular “retox.”

3:05pm to 3:20pm

Circularity Is in Our Jeans

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Learn about how C&A created the most circular jeans in the world certified to Cradle to Cradle Gold level. This conversation will explore the challenges to create such a product including what is needed to deliver more scale. We will cover the ways to achieve apparel that is 100% non toxic and biodegradable, 100% designed for its next life, 100% produced with renewable energy, 100% produced with recycled water or water discharges of drinking water standards and 100% social fairness. Lastly we will discuss the role of collaborative platforms like Fashion for Good and how open source is essential to impact and scale.

3:20pm to 3:25pm

Closing: Day 1

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

3:30pm to 4:00pm

Networking Break

Break

Atrium

4:00pm to 5:00pm

How to Message the Circular Economy

Breakout

St. Croix 1

As more companies commit to innovative circular economy and sustainability strategies and investments, there is an increased need to learn the best practices for successfully communicating these decisions externally. Too often, we hear about what circular approaches companies are taking but not how they are communicating the relevance of those approaches. This session will explore how companies can most effectively communicate to their customers and stakeholders about their circular ambitions, products, and service offerings by focusing on circular solution(s) and the accompanying communications approaches they employed.

Cultural Conditions for Circularity

Breakout

Spring Park Bay

What if the limitations to realizing a circular economy lay not only in new and innovative approaches, but also in enabling cultural conditions critical for them to take hold? What if, in our quest for more, better, faster, prettier, newer… we lost the thread between who we are and what is happening around us? What if the role of business needs to start, not just with circular practices, but with designing for connection between people? These are some of the questions we are exploring as we consider how to design for the the cultural conditions for a circular economy - be it within cities, neighborhoods, businesses or for a given product or service. Please join IDEO and Gehl as we navigate the human potential within and for the circular economy.

Beware Unsustainable Circularity: A Push to Measure What Matters

Breakout

Excelsior Bay

The circular economy holds immense potential benefits. But the ends need as much attention as the means.

Presently, not all circular innovations are created to maximize the end benefits. Better metrics are needed to put circular business models in perspective and drive the types of investments that have the greatest positive impacts on society, the economy, and the environment.

Join this session to review opportunities to better align circularity with sustainability. Help create a post-conference statement on the big picture objectives and metrics that will help track the progress and benefits of a transition to circular economies.

Systems Thinking about Circular Water

Breakout

St. Croix 2

This interactive, solution-oriented workshop will provide tangible tactics and strategies for you to consider applying to regional water circularity solutions and collaboration by hearing examples from members of the MN Sustainable Growth Coalition. This private/public/non-profit partnership aims to advance the circular economy for the growth and prosperity of the region by focusing on water, materials and energy from a systems, social level approach. Hear water-focused takeaways and lessons learned from leaders at Fortune 500 companies.

What Is a Circular City?

Breakout

Minnesota Room

By 2050, two thirds of us will live in cities. However, our urban centres are grappling with the effects of our current take-make-waste economy. Under this ‘linear system’, cities consume over 75% of natural resources, produce over 50% of global waste, and emit between 60-80% of greenhouse gases.

As major engines for economic growth and job creation, cities are also looking to the circular economy agenda to unlock economic, environmental, and social benefits. This session will explore how city leaders are using the transition to a circular economy to create jobs for their communities, providing safe and affordable places to live and improving how people and good throughout the city.

Now What? Unpacking Product Takeback

Breakout

Wayzata Bay

Voluntary product take-back schemes are an effective way for companies to reduce waste, engage consumers, reclaim valuable materials and establish a more circular supply chain. But once a company has successfully recovered a product at the end of its usable life, what next? Join reverse logistics and take-back experts from IKEA, I:CO and Best Buy for a conversation about how to determine the appropriate path for used products that keeps materials at their highest and best use, complies with health and safety regulations and also pencils out.

Safe & Circular: Integrating Material Health into Circularity

Breakout

Deer & Elk Room

Circular design doesn’t happen in hindsight: designers must integrate ideas around the circular economy from the inception of the product design process through to the end of a product’s useful life, ensuring true circularity for the materials, components and systems involved. Materials lie at the heart of this process: safe, circular materials choices form the foundation of successful circular design, but not all materials are safe enough or suitable for a circular economy.
Join this interactive session to explore ways to reframe the material health challenge as an opportunity for successful circular design, ensuring your work promotes a safe, circular economy.

5:00pm to 7:00pm

Opening Networking Reception

Networking

Atrium and 6th Floor

Wednesday, June 19th, 2019

6:15am to 7:15am

Morning Yoga

Activity

Join us for a dynamic and challenging guided vinyasa-style class that synchronizes breath with movement and builds strength with continuous flow. Set your intentions for the second day of Circularity 19. All levels are welcome. Sign up for yoga here. Location is Life Time Athletic Target Center : 600 1st Ave N , Minneapolis, MN (a four minute walk from the Minneapolis Marriott).

7:45am to 8:30am

Breakfast & Registration

Break

Atrium

8:30am to 9:30am

Integrating Design Thinking and Biomimicry

Breakout

St. Croix 1

Design thinking is a powerful mechanism to generate breakthrough concepts. It is premised on three elements: empathy, ideation, and experimentation. Biomimicry, the practice of looking to nature for inspired ideas, is a way to radically expand the ideation phase while reducing the number of iterative cycles for experimentation (since the design already works in a different environment). It is also a way to open our hearts with empathy that extends not just to human-centered experiences, but a design that works for all species. This session will also feature a case study of Lockheed Martin’s journey to integrate bioinspired design into the product and technology development process at its famed Skunk Works® to spark innovation and instill a culture of sustainable product design. Join this working session as we practice the power of design thinking coupled with biomimicry design process.

Food Fight: Food Waste and Plastic Packaging

Breakout

Deer & Elk Room

The United States throws away 63 million tons of food annually. The financial impact translates into a loss of $218 billion — or 1.3 percent of the GDP — that is wasted from growing, processing, transporting and disposing of food that is never actually eaten. As more companies work to prevent food waste, however, they are faced with challenging trade-offs, sometimes swapping one problem for another. Enter plastic packaging. By both prolonging a product’s shelf life and by allowing customers to purchase only what they will consume, an increase in packaging offers a promising solution to combat food spoilage. But given the politically charged dialogue (and dogma) around plastics and plastic waste, navigating these trade-offs can be both contentious and counterintuitive.

Learn about how the dynamic tension between food waste and plastic waste, the cumulative impacts and systemic implications of each and understand how companies are navigating conflicting priorities in their journey towards circularity.

Getting to Zero Waste in Retail: Tools and Tactics

Breakout

St. Croix 2

Join Walmart, REI, Nordstrom and the Retail Compliance Center, an initiative of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), for an interactive discussion around the evolution of Zero Waste as a concept and how its principles are being applied in a retail context on the larger path towards circularity. The discussion will look beyond facility certification, for what is means to strive for Zero Waste for a physical product and packaging-based industry.

This session will also include a preview of the RILA Sustainability Leadership Advisor, a decision support platform under development from the RILA Retail Compliance Center that enables retail organizations to map and optimize their sustainability programs, such as waste management, and leverage industry data and customized guidance.

Understanding and Engaging Consumers

Breakout

Excelsior Bay

During this interactive session, delegates from GreenBiz, GlobeScan, Danone, IKEA, P&G and WWF will share and discuss fresh insights from recent stakeholder and consumer research conducted around the world. Hear what the results mean for major B2C brands and understand the implications for shifting consumer behavior.

Getting Budget and Demonstrating Value: Partnering with Finance to Overcome Functional Silos

Breakout

Spring Park Bay

One of the compelling aspects of the circular economy is that it creates a clear business case, generating both financial value and environmental benefits. However, demonstrating that value often requires highly cross-functional work. This can make it difficult to get investment, since budgets and ROIs are often done in organizational siloes, and the functions that bear the costs (e.g., reverse logistics) may not directly generate the gains. Finance organizations therefore become a critical partner in finding solutions to successfully gain funding and demonstrate holistic circular economy ROI. This panel will be a practitioner discussion focusing on strategies to enable big, transformational circular investments.

Sell It Again: How Retailers Are Embracing Recommerce

Breakout

Minnesota Room

This session will explore how retailers are using returned consumer products to implement more circular business models through recommerce. Customers return $390B of merchandise annually and return rates for ecommerce purchases can reach 40%. Meanwhile, resale of consumer product (or recommerce) is an 18B market, with online recommerce disruptors growing up >30X faster than traditional retail. This session will focus on how retailers and brands have changed their own business models to adapt to the growing trends around returns and recommerce. You will hear about challenges, successes, and how a move towards circularity is fueling innovations in reverse logistics.

Emerging Trends in Circular Fashion

Breakout

Wayzata Bay

From clothing as a service to digitally enabled tracking to end-of-life recycling, hear how emerging circular business models and products can help break the cycle of fashion waste.

9:30am to 10:00am

Networking Break

Networking

Zero Waste Tour

Activity

Atrium

Join Waste Management on a Zero Waste Tour to understand what goes into creating a Zero Waste event like Circularity 19, from working with vendors to engaging attendees and coordinating waste services. This quick tour will provide insight into the collaboration that goes on behind the scenes. Meet at the Waste Management banner in the Atrium at the start of the break to participate in the tour.

10:00am to 10:05am

Welcome: Day 2

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Welcome to day 2 of Circularity 19!

10:05am to 10:15am

What's Cooked in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Managing food waste often presents a challenge to cities and hospitality businesses in them due to large volumes of food, uncertainty of demand, and weak infrastructure for recovery.

The region of Las Vegas presents a unique and surprising contrast to this present day norm. Food waste of all types is often up-cycled to the right destination not down-cycled to lower value. Learn what happens in Vegas: MGM Resorts, the predominant hospitality player in the city is ready to share.

10:15am to 10:35am

Financing Circularity & Unlocking Catalytic Capital

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

What will it take to capitalize the circular economy? Circular supply chains offer investors an opportunity to reduce costs, provide pricing stability, mitigate risk and protect the environment. To unlock the $4.5 trillion economic opportunity promised by circularity, it will take alignment with the traditional finance community, big banks and investment decision-makers to finance and accelerate new, often unproven models. Hear about how stakeholders are beginning to unlock value and create a lasting positive impact on the environment as they pivot towards circularity.

10:35am to 10:45am

The Cultural Conditions for Circularity

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

10:45am to 10:50am

Plugging into the Circular Economy

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Hear from Alexis Ludwig-Vogen, Best Buy’s Director of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability as she shares how Best Buy has built the circular economy into its business model.

10:50am to 11:10am

The Future of Circular Water

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Nothing happens without water. Although it's a basic building block of every economy, water is becoming increasingly scarce, threatening supply chains, communities and business as usual. According to U.N. estimates, the world will face a 40 percent freshwater deficit by 2030 if nothing changes. However, applying circular economy principles to water management may be the key to turning scarcity into abundance and regenerating watersheds in the process.

Join the host of Marketplace Tech, Molly Wood, and Ecolab Chairman and CEO Doug Baker for a conversation about the state of the world’s water and how industry can serve both the environment and the bottom line by getting smart about water. Last year, Ecolab managed more than 1.1 trillion gallons of water for customers around the world in a wide range of industries, helping them reduce, reuse and recycle water, saving 300 billion gallons along the way. This interview will explore the future of circular water management, the technologies that will help close the loop on water usage, and shed light on real-world solutions that are available to companies today.

11:10am to 11:20am

Powerful Solutions. Relentless Innovation — Apple’s Closed Loop Journey

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Sarah Chandler is leading the effort to achieve Apple’s ambitious goal to one day use only recycled or renewable materials in its products and packaging. Hear how innovation has been the cornerstone of Apple’s success in reducing its environmental footprint — from Apple's iPhone disassembly robot and state-of-the-art Material Recovery Lab, to its custom-engineered recycled aluminum alloy.

11:20am to 11:40am

Designing for Circularity

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

How do you get an entire company thinking about circular economy principles at the “drawing board” phase? 3M and Target are among the organizations that are actively prioritizing factors such as durability and reuse potential far earlier in the product development cycle. Top executives share their insights on how they’ve trained employees — from engineers to brand managers — to think differently; the key role of small, nimble partners; and how circularity is creating whole new categories and revenue opportunities.

11:40am to 12:10pm

Accelerate at Circularity 19: Fast-Pitch Competition

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Accelerate at Circularity 19 is a fast-pitch competition featuring entrepreneurs with innovative technologies, products and services advancing a circular economy. Selected finalists will pitch from the main stage.

Finalists:

Matthieu de Gaudemar, CEO, Kudoti

PeterMajeranowski, CEO & Co-Founder, Tyton BioSciences

Tinia Pina, Founder & CEO, Re-Nuble

Chantal Emmanuel CTO, Co-Founder, Lime Loop

Forrest Carroll, CFO, Revolv

Joanna Chen, CEO, Gibbon

Michael Martin Founder & CEO, r.Cup

12:10pm to 12:15pm

Closing: Day 2

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

12:15pm to 1:30pm

Lunch

Atrium and 6th Floor

12:30pm to 1:30pm

Roundtable Lunch: Industry Trade Associations & the Circular Economy

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Industry trade associations play an important role in providing companies at all levels of familiarity with the circular economy pre-competitive space to benchmark and learn. Join the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) for a discussion on how the circular economy is explored within its committees, from student case competitions to education, as part of a larger dialogue on the ways companies can seek and support the unique activities available through their industry trade associations.

Roundtable Lunch: Understanding Circular Cities: State-of-the-Art

Lunch

Minnesota Room

“Circular economies are most efficient when they can readily connect inputs to outputs, and the two elements that help that happen - density and infrastructure - are prominent characteristics of cities.” – The Well-Tempered City.

Circularity within cities involves creating regenerative dynamics which citizens, businesses and other public and private players can organize or reorganize around. The resulting virtuous cycles may be economic, ecologic, sociologic or a combination of these. By moving assertively toward creating productive circles in cities, we move from extractive, zero-sum models and replace them with regenerative ones where everyone wins. This session is an exploration of the state-of-the-art of circularity in cities. It will share and solicit examples of generative and re-generative circles at play in cities today. It will ask participants to share their observations and aspirations for the truly circular cities of tomorrow.

Roundtable Lunch: From “Barn to Biogas”: Circularity in the Farm Economy

Lunch

Minnesota Room

With 1.4 million dairy cows in California, dairy farm operations are the largest source of methane in the state. Together, Land O’Lakes, one of the nation’s largest farmer-owned agricultural cooperatives, and California Bioenergy , a renewable energy company—are working with California dairy farmers to generate renewable compressed natural gas (R-CNG) from farm waste. The digesters will help support California’s new standards to reduce dairy and livestock manure-related methane emissions by 40%, by 2030 with also providing a new revenue stream for farmers.

Roundtable Lunch: Repair and Product Life Extension

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Longer lasting products could offer enhanced value while reducing environmental impacts. Expand your lifecycle thinking with a discussion about repair best practices, parts supply chains, and information requirements of the circular economy.

Roundtable Lunch: Talking in Circles: Discuss Tech, Trends and Tips with GreenBiz Editors

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Connect with some of the journalists who shape GreenBiz’s coverage of the circular economy issues and solutions. Learn more about the trends and technologies most likely to capture our attention; discuss our policies when it comes to embargoed briefings and news; and hear about how the team prioritizes incoming pitches and press releases. This will be a roundtable-style gathering, so come prepared to talk.

Roundtable Lunch: Financing Infrastructure for the Circular Economy

Lunch

This roundtable will discuss how project finance and various other types of capital can be utilized to build the infrastructure required to enable the circular economy.

Roundtable Lunch: Capturing Hearts and Minds to Make Cities More Circular

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Matthew will lead a dialogue with participants that focused on the following core question: How might we better capture the hearts and minds of people by connecting circular initiatives in cities to the everyday needs and experiences of people. Rather than focusing on the technical infrastructure of circular industries within cities - we will focus for a moment on what touches peoples lives and influences peoples everyday behaviors. People will have the opportunity to share and reflect on personal experiences within cities that have been meaningful to them - and then will pivot to a series of questions that are designed to provoke thinking connecting human needs (social connection, opportunity, safety, convenience, delight, etc) to expressions of circular economy in cities.

Roundtable Lunch: Turning Plastic Waste Commitments Into Meaningful Action

Lunch

Minnesota Room

The world’s plastic pollution crisis can be fixed – but only with the power of business to catalyze solutions across the plastic material value chain. From product and supplier decision-making to influencing consumers, retailers and FMCG companies play an especially critical role in helping fix the pain points along the broken plastic system. But as large-scale problems call for large-scale actions, how do these companies tackle the problem in a way that’s consistent and reflects the systems-change we need to see?

Join the discussion led by World Wildlife Fund’s Erin Simon, who’s packaging engineer expertise and conservation-driven approach is helping companies answer this question and adapt practical approaches to one of the world’s most complex crises.

Roundtable Lunch: Regional Circularity: Fostering Local Collaboration Across Sectors

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Join collaboration-minded peers for an intimate yet informal roundtable luncheon to share lessons learned and best practices for circularity-focused efforts that leverage cross sector collaboration. In particular, share ideas or challenges about your experiences partnering with private, public and nonprofit sector organizations to advance your organization’s goals.

This solution-oriented conversation will include peer coaching to both troubleshoot and brainstorm approaches that work best for to advance your complex sustainability goals. The luncheon will be hosted by Amy Fredregill, Managing Director of the MN Sustainable Growth Coalition, based on her 20+ years working between sectors and industries to facilitate collaborative dialog and cross-sector initiatives. Your participation in this roundtable luncheon will add value to your Circularity 19 experience by adding tools to your toolbox and networking with peers whom have and are working in a partnership-focused manner.

Roundtable Lunch: Cross-Industry Collaborations: How to Set Them Up and Show their Value

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Stay tuned!

Roundtable Lunch: Is the Circular Economy Haunting your Dreams?

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Consumer goods companies and retailer members of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy Initiative have committed to increase the recycled content of their packaging to an average of 25% by 2025, compared to the current global average of just 2%. Members of the American Chemistry Council committed to 100% of plastics packaging being recyclable or recoverable by 2030, and 100% of plastics packaging being reused, recycled, or recovered by 2040. Governing bodies around the world are mandating the reduction or elimination of single use plastics and committing to zero waste or circularity goals. Meanwhile, the recycling value chain is struggling to find footing quickly in light of China's ban on contaminated recyclables, and companies are challenged to locate sources of recycled content that meet their requirements in terms of volume, performance, and more. Join this discussion facilitated by UL circularity expert Dr. Bill Hoffman and special guest Andy Mangan from Pathway21, which is scaling the Materials Marketplace launched by the US Business Council for Sustainable Development in 2015, to discuss what is keeping you up at night, what you and other companies are doing to meet these emerging requirements, and how they are using standards, certifications, technology, and networks to find solutions to these pressing issues.

Roundtable Lunch: Can a Circular Economy Also be Socially Just?

Lunch

Minnesota Room

Sustainability is propped up by the three pillars of economic prosperity, social justice and environmental protection and the circular economy has been identified as the optimal economic model for sustainability. Therefore, the concept of a circular economy may seem to inherently include social justice or equity, but does it? Can it? Should it? How does CE to the SDGs? Join Dr. Raj Buch, Circular Economy practice lead for Arizona State University, for a robust conversation on the role of social justice in the circular economy model and how your organization may be missing this element as part of your CE strategy.

Roundtable Lunch: Measuring Your Company’s Circularity

Lunch

Minnesota Room

WBCSD is developing a Circular Metrics Framework for companies to consistently measure their circularity and identify the risks and opportunities to their business. Ahead of the draft framework for public comment to be launched just weeks later, WBCSD will share insights into the metric, how it’s calculated and how it informs business for better decision-making.

1:30pm to 2:30pm

Making Water Circular Again: The Future of Technology & Infrastructure

Breakout

Spring Park Bay

In nature, water is the ultimate circular resource. All the water that we’ll ever have already exists, and it is constantly moving through the hydrological cycle. In the last century, however, we’ve spent billions of dollars to make water fit our linear economy. We take water (usually from the ground) à treat it à use it à treat it again as “waste” water à dump it (usually into surface water). And now, the pipes we laid 100 years ago are crumbling beneath our feet. The EPA estimates we need $800 billion in investment in the next 20 years to keep the level of drinking water service we have today. But all that would get us are shiny new pipes in an old linear model, not designed for the realities of a changing climate. Meanwhile, in places as different as Amsterdam, Australia, Ghana, and India, new water service delivery models are cropping up that are far more efficient, cost effective, and most importantly, recognize the truly circular nature of water. In this panel discussion, we’ll explore different water service business models (such as community owned and decentralized treatment at the point of use); the rise of “smart” water technologies to optimize both energy and water use and recovery; and progress towards full water reuse in different sectors.

Can Materials Marketplaces Work?

Breakout

St. Croix 2

Materials matching has been tried many times before, often with limited results. Recently there has been renewed interest by a number companies looking to increase the amount of recycled content in their products and countries looking divert more waste from landfills. It’s time to find out if materials marketplaces can scale and provide the services to support circular strategies.

The Promise and Perils of Reusable Packaging

Breakout

Deer & Elk Room

Circular delivery models will require not just innovation in packaging but a reimagination of supply chains, partnerships and the consumer experience. Learn about new approaches to reusing packaging and hear about the promise and pitfalls from experts in the field.

Going Circular? Design Tips for Non-Designers

Breakout

St. Croix 1

Most of the choices that determine whether or not a product is circular are made at the design phase. However most of people involved in new product development are non-designers. In this interactive session, we’ll map out key stakeholders, and discuss best practices and concepts that non-designers should know so they can effectively design for circularity. You’ll learn how to write a design brief so that it will be easier to achieve circular goals, and easier to evaluate the options that your design teams develop. Last, we’ll cover other essentials like trade-offs, material selection, end-of-life strategies, and alternative strategies for your design and production teams.

A More Perfect Circle: Aligning Equity & Circularity

Breakout

Excelsior Bay

Without intention, a circular economy will continue to reinforce the inequity and injustice inherent in the current linear system and communities will be no better off than they were before. However, an economic reimagination will require fundamental changes, which opens up the opportunity to center equity in the new economic model. Join this breakout to hear real-world examples of how circularity can create jobs, mitigate injustice and cultivate resilient local communities.

1:30pm to 3:45pm

Circularity: From Concept to Strategy

Breakout

Minnesota Room

We have all been grappling with the reality of what the circular economy means for our businesses. How do you set a goal around this amorphous concept? What should be the scope of this goal? What is your business’s unique theory of change? And how do you convince your colleagues about the business case for circularity? Join us for a conversation as we dig into these questions and hear from leaders who are turning concept into action, setting goals and then operationalizing circular strategies within businesses across a set of diverse set of industry sectors.

Food Vision 2050: Reshaping the Future Food System

Breakout

Wayzata Bay

Many pop culture visions of the future food system are dystopic and disconnected from the land, natural processes, and other human beings. As a response to this crisis, The Rockefeller Foundation is launching the Food System 2050 Vision Prize. This 18-month program will encourage the development of future visions of the global food system that nourish entire populations, protect and regenerate the environment, and enable the flourishing of cultures and communities. These visions will help funders, communities, companies, organizations, and governments identify new opportunities to catalyze change, open a new channel to listen directly to diverse voices across the planet, and translate those visions into practical solutions.

Join SecondMuse for a design thinking session focused on envisioning a desirable future food system for all. Participants of this workshop will be some of the first to help shape the Vision 2050 Prize. Together we will ideate and co-create positive narratives around the future of food and design new models for how to get there. This will be a multi-stakeholder environment interactive session that will provide great opportunities for networking and connecting with top level and emerging leaders in the field and beyond.

2:30pm to 2:45pm

Transition

Break

2:45pm to 3:45pm

Circular Backbone: Designing a Digital Infrastructure

Breakout

St. Croix 2

As the circular economy gains traction we navigate not only how to design new products and services, but also what enabling infrastructure needs to be in place for these new systems to work and scale. From clothing to electronics, food, transportation, and more; Most of the tools that we need to unlock a circular future exist, the question is how we will use them. Please join IDEO for an interactive session focused on co-designing key and enabling infrastructure required for a set of specific industry challenges to realize their circular potential.

Regulating Circularity: Unpacking the Policy Landscape

Breakout

St. Croix 1

When developed appropriately, policies can be a key tool to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. This hour-long breakout will unpack the current regulatory landscape, elevate some of the most (and least) effective policy enablers and discuss how to scale and replicate best practices.

Compostable Materials and the Circular Economy

Breakout

Deer & Elk Room

How can bioplastics and compostable materials be a part of a circular economy solution for plastics? This breakout session will hear from organizations that are actively working in the bioplastics and plastics supply chain and are involved in commercializing bioplastic resins, products and/or circular solutions for plastic pollution. The panelists will discuss the potential of bioplastics and why they believe compostable materials and organics recycling are a necessary component to unlocking a viable circular economy and a part of the solution to global plastic pollution. The audience would learn the basics of bioplastics - definitions of terms, differences between materials, current and future applications, end-of-life characteristics, challenges to greater market adoption, and failures/successes - as well as the challenges in developing, implementing and scaling circular solutions for the organics loop.

Rethinking the Water Cycle Across the Value Chain

Breakout

Spring Park Bay

Everybody loves the idea of circular water management, but we’re a long way from making it happen. In fact, we don’t even agree on what circular water management is. That’s a problem, because we face a projected 40 percent water deficit by 2030 and businesses are already feeling the effects of mounting water scarcity. But it’s also an opportunity, because our margin for progress is wide-open. This breakout is a live brainstorming session with the best water minds from a variety of companies on the front lines. What does circular water management mean to them? Which obstacles are they finding on the journey and what are the best ways to overcome them? And how are they propagating these best practices up and down the supply chain? The answers will determine the actions we take to ward off a crisis and safeguard sustainable growth in the crucial next decade.

Leveraging Place-Based Programs to Improve National Recycling Rates

Breakout

Excelsior Bay

Testing Circular Economy principles and forging new and deeper collaborations among businesses, NGOs, governments, and other strategic stakeholder groups are necessary to unlock the value of the Circular Economy, and accelerate scalable solutions across global supply chains. This workshop will focus on how companies can work with cities to accomplish their recycling and recovery objectives and more effectively scale them nationally, leveraging Beyond 34 as a use case.

3:45pm to 4:15pm

Zero Waste Tour

Activity

Atrium

Networking Break

Break

Atrium

4:15pm to 5:15pm

Artificial Intelligence and the Circular Economy

Breakout

Spring Park Bay

Artificial intelligence can be a valuable tool to help accelerate and scale the transition to a circular economy while creating new forms of value. Given humanity’s inefficient, waste-ridden industrial systems, AI can help solve some complex problems that stand between the current linear system and a more circular one. Hear from companies across industries that are leveraging AI for CE through product and material design, operating new business models and optimizing infrastructure.

Return to Sender: Reverse Logistics in the Age of E-Commerce

Breakout

Deer & Elk Room

The e-commerce and returns goods market is rapidly expanding as The Wall Street Journal estimates post retail sales of returns at about $554 billion in 2016 and growing at about 7.5% per year. The returned goods market and logistics associated with the product movement and disposition has many facets, ranging from product liquidation and reuse, remanufacturing of products, traditional recycling, creating energy, as well as managing regulated items with hazardous characteristics that must be managed in compliant and environmentally responsible ways. This session will focus on how to turn the challenges of returned products into opportunities to become an industry leader.

A Successful Formula for Chemical Recycling

Breakout

Minnesota Room

What's the role of advanced recycling technologies in keeping materials circulating through our economy and creating circular plastics?

There’s been a noticeable uptick lately in buzz around chemical recycling, and the promise of technologies that can fix the broken recycling system. However, the technologies, terminology and applications can be confusing and are not widely understood. This session will build on the findings from a recent report by the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, and explore the landscape of transformational technologies that stop plastic waste, keep materials in play and grow markets. Speakers will discuss the state of the market and highlight the potential for transformational technologies to turn waste plastics back into new materials, decrease reliance on fossil fuels and curb the flow of plastics into marine environments.

Product as Service: PaaS or Fail?

Breakout

St. Croix 1

From lighting fixtures to furniture to clothing and accessories, more companies are exploring models for providing products-as-a-service (PaaS) through rental or leasing arrangements, pay-per-use transactions and subscriptions that reimagine the concept of ownership. What does it take to design and manufacture products that can be “sold” in this manner? What’s the best pricing model? How will this shake up expectations for service and maintenance? And how can companies adapt their own financial models to make this transition? Learn from several organizations at the center of this exciting disruption.

Going Glocal: Balancing Regional Context and Global Footprints

Breakout

Excelsior Bay

How do brands and retailers balance regional context with national and international footprints? Recycling systems are inherently local, influenced heavily by city and state-level ordinances and regulations, the proximity of end markets, cost of waste and existing infrastructure. At the same time, supply chains and manufacturing are increasingly global. Standardization is a commonly suggested solution, but where along the value-chain does that make sense? Join the discussion to hear from global retailers and mission-based non-profit recyclers to explore the challenges and opportunities of regional circularity.

Innovative Approaches to Ending Food Waste

Breakout

Wayzata Bay

If you piled all the food wasted globally on an annual basis — an estimated 1.6 billion tons — you’d need a plate that could accommodate 10 times the mass of Manhattan, according to a 2018 analysis by the Boston Consulting Group. That waste occurs across the entire value chain — from farms to grocers to hotel and corporate food service operations and breakrooms. Our subject matter experts will discuss emerging technologies and services that can help organizations sink their teeth into this challenge at the point of consumption — including new chiller designs that make food donation simpler and safer to alternative sourcing options to new models for repurposing wasted food as valuable organic materials, and more.

Remanufacturing: An Industry Perspective

Breakout

St. Croix 2

A widely untapped opportunity, remanufacturing offers companies the ability to extend the life of products and keep materials at their highest and best use for longer. But it's easier said than done. Companies must recover, dissasemble and repair components for resale, while maintaining performance, quality and specifications. Hear from industry experts on how to appraoch remanufacturing for your company, including a discussion of design, material health, consumer engagement and new business models.

5:15pm to 7:00pm

Networking Reception

Networking

Atrium and 6th Floor

8:30pm to 12:00am

After Party!

Networking

City Works - 600 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403

Join us for the After Party at City Works - only a 2-minute walk from the Minneapolis Marriott City Center. We are kicking off at 8:30 pm on Wednesday, June 19. Enjoy a fun-filled evening with drinks and more opportunities to connect with fellow attendees!

Thursday, June 20th, 2019

7:45am to 8:30am

Breakfast & Registration

Break

Atrium

8:30am to 9:30am

The New Metrics of Product Circularity

Breakout

Minnesota Room

With the growing momentum for developing products for the circular economy, many companies are looking for demonstrate their commitment and leadership in developing products and practices that support the circular economy. Participate in this session to understand the landscape of product circularity certifications, and learn about the questions you should be asking at your company when embarking on circular product journey.

Extending Product Lives and the "Right to Repair" Movement

Breakout

St. Croix 1

The backlash against planned obsolescence has begun, and products makers of all types — from consumer electronics to industrial equipment — are waking up to a new world of design and service. Advocates of the “Right to Repair” movement are demanding that manufacturers prioritize the development of better maintenance paths for their products, through modular designs and broader availability of components that make repair simpler for the DIY set — and that extend product lives in the process. Policymakers are paying attention: as of early 2019, 20 states including California and Minnesota are actively considering legislation. What does this mean for makers of stuff? How does this philosophy play into circular models of production? Our expert panel weighs in on the implications for product design, maintenance plans, the availability of repair components, intellectual property and more.

Digitizing Takeback: Embracing Technology to Create Circular Value Chains

Breakout

Spring Park Bay

The convergence of disruptive technologies like the internet of things, blockchain, and artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping our economy. In 2008, there were already more “things” connected to the internet than people. As this trend continues, we will gain unprecedented insight into the condition, location, and history of objects in our physical world. How might we harness this digital revolution to accelerate the development of circular value chains? In this highly interactive session, panelist will explore how companies are employing track-and-trace technologies to innovate new business models, enhance product takeback programs, and promote circular value creation.

Rethinking Packaging for E-Commerce

Breakout

Wayzata Bay

Difficult to ship. Large items. Fragile. Liquids. Over-packaged goods that cause consumer frustration. Complex logistics. All combined with a massive growth in e-Commerce. Damage to a product is a worst-case sustainability outcome, but at the same time, we want to use packaging materials sustainably. How do we evolve packaging to meet the performance needs of hard-to-ship items while also promoting sustainable, circular use of materials? This panel will explore sustainability trade offs, pressure points, and success strategies for the rapidly growing field of e-Commerce.

How Regenerative Agriculture Fits in a Circular World

Breakout

St. Croix 2

Big food and beverage companies are digging into regenerative agriculture in a big way: General Mills, for one, has pledged to work with organic and conventional farmers to bring these practices to more than 1 million acres by 2030. Sourcing and sustainability teams from PepsiCo, Danone and Land O’Lakes are likewise encouraging regenerative principles among their suppliers.

The imperative is clear: fertile soil can stabilize the climate by drawing down carbon dioxide emissions and improving water infiltration — while improving yields, by making soil healthier. It’s an inherently circular process, one that will be the roots for a sustainable food system. This discussion will highlight the role of rotational livestock grazing; explore symbiotic plant and animal species; and consider the valuable ecosystem services provided by surrounding pastures and fields with marshlands or savannahs.

Storytelling & Consumer Behavior Change

Breakout

Deer & Elk Room

Do you want to get more people buying into circular practices and products? Find out how to use storytelling and behavior change strategies to move your audiences to action — from employees and consumers, to suppliers and buyers. Join this session to learn best practices in storytelling and behavior change from those who’ve used these techniques to advance circularity, sustainability, and social impact for leading businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits. Case studies and research results, combined with dialogue and interactive exercises, will give you a foundation and practical next steps for framing for your story and designing your behavior change campaign.

9:30am to 10:00am

Networking Break

Break

Atrium

10:00am to 10:05am

Opening: Day 3

Plenary

Welcome to the final day of Circularity 19!

10:05am to 10:15am

The Role of Recycling in a Regenerative and Just Economy

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Is recycling broken? Dead? Worth it? Hear from the co-presidents of a local non-profit social enterprise recycler explain their vision for the evolution of recycling and key role it can play in stabilizing the climate, creating strong local economies, and supporting healthy communities. Recycling may need some attention, but wasting is our crisis.

10:15am to 10:35am

Partnering to End Plastic Waste

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Take a look inside an ambitious industry initiative to holistically address the global marine debris crisis.

10:35am to 10:45am

Circular Cities in Practice: From the Netherlands to North Carolina

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Envisioning a fully circular city, we imagine a zero-waste, innovative city of the future that is resilient and healthy, with opportunities for all. But, practically speaking, how can the city get there?

10:45am to 10:55am

Interactive

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

10:55am to 11:05am

The New Reusability Ecosystem

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Circular delivery models will require not just innovation in packaging but a reimagination of supply chains, partnerships and the consumer experience. Learn about a groundbreaking new approach to reusing packaging at scale, and hear how large consumer product companies, retailers and TerraCycle are partnering to enable a durable supply chain while maintaining affordability and convenience, and improving the customer experience.

11:05am to 11:25am

Why Brands Are Reclaiming Resale From Marketplaces

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Resale is now a reality. While legacy marketplaces and startups have tapped into this $24B market, brands have been slower to react. As the market is expected to grow to $51B in just 5 years, brands are beginning to realize that owning their own resale market is essential to grow sales, loyalty and new customers. The plenary will focus on this changing landscape for brands, insights and learnings from those brands forging this new ground.

11:25am to 11:35am

Waking the Sleeping Giant: Middle America and Single-Use Plastics

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Are average Americans really beginning to catch onto how much plastic they use and trash every day? Are they seeing all the press, the Nat Geo covers, the YouTube videos? Are they disgusted in themselves…brands…plastics makers…lawmakers? And what will they soon be demanding…who should solve this problem? Will they begin seeking out products not packaged in plastics? Will they shun brands that use plastic packaging? Will they demand that their lawmakers impose bans? Will they get loud on social media the way they have for other social issues? Based on new research, Suzanne Shelton will offer up profiles of the Americans who are awake, aware and activated on plastics and the profile of those who are still dormant and asleep.

11:35am to 11:55am

Power, Privilege and Bias in a Circular Economy

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4

Around the world, our linear industrial economies currently create unsafe living and working conditions. These challenges disproportionately affect women, minorities, low income, migrants, low educated and other marginalized populations who endure dangerous working conditions, are needlessly exposed to chemicals known to cause higher levels of birth defects, and other adverse health outcomes and bear the primary responsibility of managing the world’s waste.

This session will explore how governments, companies and communities in both developed and developing countries can use the creation of circular economies to challenge the status quo, and embed justice and equity in the creation of new policies, better products and services and smarter infrastructure.

11:55am to 12:05pm

Day 3 Closing: To Circularity & Beyond

Plenary

Ballroom 1-4