What are the basic building blocks of the circular economy, and how can they help drive opportunity and innovation across roles and sectors?

How can U.S. communities and industry partners collaborate to ensure access to recycling?

While most Americans would agree that recycling is important, access to recycling bins, store drop-off options and other facilities can vary greatly depending on your location. Learn about the challenge of equitable access, hear about example projects to address this problem, and how government and industry stakeholders can work together to address these challenges.

How can companies engage informal waste economies, prevent marine debris, and incorporate ocean-bound plastics into their supply chains?

More than 86 million metric tons of plastic are in our ocean. With 8 million to 12 million tons of plastic waste flowing into the ocean each year, our ocean’s plastic is projected to outweigh its fish by 2050. With these staggering statistics and a tidal wave of public outcry, leading companies are leveraging disaster as opportunity by reframing ocean-bound plastics as an untapped resource. From apparel to packaging to household goods, diverse consumer products are manufactured in part or entirely by ocean-bound plastics, turning waste into value and outrage into a powerful brand narrative. This session will explore how leading brands have invested in informal waste economy infrastructure and integrated ocean-bound plastics into their products.

What role will tech-enabled tracking solutions play in building a circular future, and how can we leverage these technologies effectively today?

This session will explore how digital technologies including blockchain, near field communications (NFC), mobile phones and SMS messaging are enabling end-to-end transparency. Our experts will discuss the guiding question in the context of two specific projects: Dutch manufacturer Auping’s program for mapping the journey of circular mattresses, an effort enabled through a partnership with DSM-Niaga; and AB InBev’s initiative in Zambia and Uganda to catalog every touchpoint in its beer production process, from cassava and barley farmers to the waste pickers returning its bottles back to recyclers. Among the issues we’ll explore: which metrics should be cataloged, how these solutions might interface with other enterprise systems, the implications for measuring the impact of projects on vulnerable workers, and what you should know about data privacy and protection.

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 is the U.S. Plastics Pact and how are its signatories advancing a circular economy for plastics?

The U.S. Plastics Pact brings together businesses, government entities, NGOs, researchers, and other collaborators as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s network of Plastics Pacts around the world. The U.S. Pact will work collectively towards a common vision of a circular economy for plastics. By bringing together diverse stakeholders and driving collaborative action, the U.S. Pact will deliver a meaningful transition towards a circular economy for plastics, enabling U.S. companies, governments and NGOs to collectively meet impactful goals by 2025 that they could not meet on their own.

Join the U.S. Plastics Pact team to learn about the Pact's launch, targets, and what comes next. Hear from the Pact’s NGOs and companies on why they're spearheading a common vision for circularity, and the crucial role companies play in plastics recovery. 

We welcome others in the plastics value chain to join the U.S. Plastics Pact after its launch.

Hold the phone! Can waste be designed out of consumer electronics?

Building off of the established principles of the Responsible Business Alliance’s (RBA’s) previous session, this more in-depth series of case studies will explore how electronics companies are designing waste out of products and offerings, including easily repairable and modular consumer electronics. A discussion with the companies from both sessions, and attendees, will explore deeper nuances of the circular economy approaches to recycling electronics.

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.