What could a circular fashion industry look like in 2050? 

The need for urgent action is clear: While the lifespan of individual garments dwindles, the environmental footprint of the apparel industry continues to grow. But where there’s inefficiency, there’s often opportunity. From renewable and recycled inputs to new business models such as repair, rental and recommerce to end of life management and more — like enabling technologies, policies and partnerships — the apparel industry is ripe for a makeover.

Join part one of this two-part session to hear what the circular fashion industry of 2050 has in store. Experts and innovators will share their aspirations for the future of manufacturing, traceability, and fabric innovation.

How can your company implement a resale business model?

The resale of used, worn or simply returned consumer products, also known as recommerce, holds tremendous promise for the retail industry. Beyond diverting substantial landfill waste, resale represents a rapidly growing revenue opportunity with a market valued at $20 billion in the apparel industry alone. But despite clear environmental benefits and new financial opportunities, only a handful of companies are implementing secondary sales models. From reverse logistics, quality control, customer expectations and revenue cannibalization concerns, companies must overcome a multitude of considerations and complexities. Join this breakout to learn how organizations at the forefront of the recommerce industry are tackling these challenges, and what it took them to build an effective, lucrative resale business model.

How can companies establish efficient reverse logistics to reclaim products and enable more circular outcomes?

Product take-back programs are commonplace at retailers keen to have customers walk their used printers and sweaters back into the store. Manufacturers commonly offer mail-in programs, and even cosmetics brands have begun accepting empty packaging for discounts on the next purchase. But all this is very old fashioned, and oftentimes the path of used items is not circular, or even sustainable. This session will examine efforts to modernize take-back and reverse logistics to  forge stronger links in a circular supply chain.

How should diverse corporate stakeholders —such as brands and packaging producers — help shape the U.S. policy landscape around plastics, recycling and solid waste management?

This two part policy session, organized in collaboration with the The Recycling Partnership, will focus on the role that brand and packaging producers can play in forging a stronger policy environment in the U.S. to create more circular outcomes.

The steady growth of public attention around plastics and packaging has led to a revitalized policy focus in the U.S. on recycling and solid waste management in 2020. Historically, brands and packaging producers have played an antagonistic role in the U.S. packaging policy landscape. However, the emergence of a circular economy opportunity and the urgency of science-based action are creating the conditions for value chain engagement and collective participation in the policymaking process.

How can companies navigate internal and external roadblocks in order to unlock circular advancement?

Fueled by consumer activism and investor demand, the transition from a linear to a circular economy is disrupting how the private sector conventionally positions its sustainability agenda. Traditionally siloed in a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), the infusion of circular economy into sustainability has provided companies a platform to unlock financial value and demonstrate ROI, while appealing to a broad range of diverse stakeholders. For many companies however, the rapid shift to a circular platform is causing tension in how a company prioritizes, partners and communicates sustainability and circular economy initiatives both internally and externally.

To ensure that companies are aligned on their sustainability, shared value and philanthropic initiatives, this session will help attendees to:

• Understand how to identify and overcome internal barriers that prohibit progress on circular economy goals.
• Unlock insights into the internal silos around sustainability/corporate responsibility that exist in the corporate space that stifle innovation, grow distrust and potentially can cause financial harm to the company.
• Learn best practices on integrating circular economy initiatives into the corporate ecosystem to drive internal alignment, innovation and external partnerships.
• Uncover internal corporate value chain biases (Finance, Sustainability, CSR and Corporate Foundation)
• Capture key insights on successful corporate and nonprofit circular partnerships.

What opportunities exist to incorporate bio-based materials into products and packaging, how can they be sustainably sourced, and what benefits or challenges do these materials afford?

From fish scales in electronics to  fabrics made from milk protein, the utilization of bio materials can often seem like a page out science fiction. Whether futuristic or highly practical, new uses of biological materials are garnering attention as a new and exciting approach to circular products. Can the use of these materials offer a sustainable pathway forward? How can bio-based materials be effectively and sustainably scaled, and when should your company take advantage of them? This session will explore these questions.

What does it mean for  companies to go "plastic neutral" and what will it take to scale, track and standardize effective plastic-offsetting infrastructure?

From Norway to Microsoft, companies and countries alike have been making headlines with sweeping commitments to go carbon neutral. But what about going “plastic neutral”?

Much like carbon neutrality, its plastics counterpart will require a significant reduction of outputs. But as companies work to shift supply chains and develop infrastructure to achieve ambitious plastics-reduction goals, offsets could offer a near-term approach to lightening a company's plastic footprint.

From tools to calculate plastic footprints, to a standardized system for plastics credits, to on-the-ground projects and partnerships with informal waste workers, several organizations are developing critical elements of an effective and impact-oriented plastic-offsetting system. Join this panel to learn how these trailblazers are partnering to establish a market for plastic waste, and how your company can support their efforts while advancing your plastic reduction or neutrality goals.

What emerging strategies have been employed to tackle food waste during the pandemic, and how can we scale these strategies in the future?

When the coronavirus pandemic first disrupted food supply chains earlier this year, huge amounts of animals and produce raised for human consumption were lost. But the food system sprang into action — adapting operations, overcoming barriers and scaling promising innovations to reduce the amount of waste. In this session, industry experts who have been leading efforts to tackle food waste during the pandemic will share what they have learned. Hear innovative thinking about scaling food-waste technologies, building more resilient donation systems and developing new supply chains that connect farmers with food recovery channels.

How can companies extend the useful life of IT assets and more effectively manage e-waste at the end of life?

The material value of the electronic waste discarded globally each year adds up to $62.5 billion — more than the GDP of most countries — according to the United Nations. With complex, incongruous regulations across the globe, managing the end of life for technologies such as PCs, tablets, smartphones, data center servers, storage and networking gear is a complex affair. This breakout will explore how to embrace a more circular approach to IT hardware and e-waste management. Whether your company is decommissioning a data center, upgrading its PCs or managing other gadgets that have reached the end of their usable life, learn how to unlock value from those systems; navigate complex policies surrounding collection, data protection and intellectual property; and maximize asset life cycles through refurbishment, deployment and recycling of old gear.