The move towards circular economy is gaining traction across Europe and the United States as a new approach that maximizes resource efficiency and effectiveness by closing loops in design, disposal and reuse of products and materials. An ethical circular economy emphasizes systems thinking, social values, impact and equity in addition to the traditional approach to circular economy. This workshop, offered through Arizona State University, a global leader in sustainability education, allows participants to work in groups to redesign a marketable product or service based on circular economy principles and models, apply the product to a regional circular economy strategy and complete a high-level net positive assessment against the Sustainable Development Goals.

 GreenBiz 18 In-Depth Tutorials are intensive half-day sessions held prior to the start of the conference. These are designed to offer participants an opportunity to dive deeper into a topic of interest and develop tangible knowledge and skills. In addition, attendees will have a greater opportunity to network with their peers in these interactive sessions. Concurrent tutorials will be held the morning of Tuesday, February 6, and are available only to those who purchase an All Access Pass.

The RISN Incubator is a niche business accelerator for entrepreneurs in the early stages of waste-to-product innovation with the goal of moving a Circular Economy in the Phoenix area forward further and faster. Launched by ASU and the City of Phoenix in 2017, the RISN Incubator currently is working with nine ventures.

bites is a farm-to-table mobile app that connects foodies with local chefs who support local farms by sourcing ingredients from those farms and taking those fresh, seasonal ingredients into the home of the foodie to create a complete dining experience in the foodie’s own kitchen. bites seeks to create experiences that impact people and the planet in beneficial ways, at three levels: 1) by offering culinary adventures at all budgetary levels, in celebration of diversity and community building; 2) by economically empowering professional chefs, culinary students, and homemaker cooks; and 3) by giving visibility and support to local growers, increasing their profits, decreasing their waste, and diverting waste from landfills. 

Businesses manage their waste based on cost, availability of services, and sustainability goals. Sustainability goals have increasingly focused on diversion from landfill and “zero waste”. As businesses and municipalities struggle to meet their goals, it is necessary to evaluate the environmental benefits of available choices, setting aside weight-based goals to look at the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of every option for managing materials. Lifecycle thinking recognizes the importance of the potential environmental effects at each stage of a product’s life. Focusing on just one stage or one effect can be misleading; a broader look considers the use of energy, air emissions, solid waste, and more associated with product manufacture, use and end disposal. Sustainable Material Management seeks to reduce environmental impacts by managing material through all stages of their life. It identifies impacts and action to address those impacts across the full cycle of materials products as they move through the economy – from raw material extraction to product design and manufacture, transport, consumption, use, reuse, recycling and disposal.

It is a large undertaking for companies with national and international portfolios to assess waste benchmarks and obtain data to develop strategies for operations, supply chain, and guest experiences. This session will help attendees understand how to best evaluate their choices, using waste data, product suppliers, waste haulers, and any other partners they engage. The content will cover the baselining process and how to utilize this evaluation to move the needle and develop constructive material management goals.

Between 2016 and 2017, the City of Phoenix in collaboration with Arizona State University conducted a series of economic impact studies to quantify the potential economic impact of waste diversion. Join Phoenix and ASU officials as they share findings and recommendations of this report by the ASU Seidman Research Institute in cooperation with the ASU Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.

Many companies have ambitious goals to eliminate waste at the end of their product's lives, including ensuring their packaging is recyclable, leveraging their brands to engage consumers, ensuring consumers have access to comprehensive recycling infrastructure, investing in emerging technology to improve recycling, and incorporating PCR into their packaging and products to drive the market for recycled commodities. In this session, these companies will discuss how massive corporations like theirs intend take on these goals, how to set and achieve ambitious goals around waste, and the need for partnerships and cross-industry collaboration to solve an issue that is bigger than their company.