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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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Food & Water Systems

Sponsored by: 
Ecolab
Tuesday, June 18th, 2019
8:00am to 12:15pm
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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. 

  • All-Access Pass Required
  • Invitation Only
  • Sign-up Required

Speakers

  • Joel Makower
  • Shana Rappaport

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8:30am to 12:15pm
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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.

  • All-Access Pass Required

Speakers

  • James George
  • Joe Murphy

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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.

  • All-Access Pass Required

Speakers

  • Adam Gendell
  • Tristanne Davis

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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.)

  • All-Access Pass Required

Speakers

  • Eliot Metzger
  • Austin Dickerson
  • Gerrard Fisher
  • Kristina Bull
  • Elizabeth Reichart

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8:30am to 10:00am
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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. 

  • All-Access Pass Required

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4:00pm to 5:00pm
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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. 

Speakers

  • Amy Fredregill
  • Kimberly Kupiecki
  • Karen Jensen
  • Jon Smieja

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Wednesday, June 19th, 2019
8:30am to 9:30am
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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. 

Speakers

  • Jackie Suggitt
  • Merijn Dols
  • Laura Rowell
  • Lee Anderson

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1:30pm to 2:30pm
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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.

Speakers

  • Amy Skoczlas Cole
  • Paige Novak
  • Phil Rolchigo
  • Eve Troeh

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1:30pm to 3:45pm
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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.

Speakers

  • Carrie Freeman
  • Kate Mendell

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2:45pm to 3:45pm
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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.

Speakers

  • Emilio Tenuta
  • John Davies
  • Josh Henretig
  • Jeff Standish
  • Julie Lindley
  • Mary Draves

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4:15pm to 5:15pm
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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.

Speakers

  • Patrick Bultema
  • Brittany Price
  • Amanda Weeks
  • Chris Cochran

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Thursday, June 20th, 2019
8:30am to 9:30am
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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.

Speakers

  • Christine Daugherty
  • Matt Carstens
  • Mia Overall
  • Kevin O'Donnell

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