The term circular economy continues to gain traction in the private sector across Europe and the United States as a powerful approach to product and service development, urban infrastructure and economic development for maximum resource efficiency and effectiveness by closing loops in design, distribution and disposal of products and materials. An Ethical Circular Economy emphasizes systems thinking, social values, impact and equity through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals in addition to the traditional approach to circular economy. This interactive Tutorial will be  facilitated by circular economy, innovation and sustainability experts from Arizona State Univesity, which was named the nation’s most innovative university in the US for four straight years by US News and World Report.

GreenBiz 19 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 26, and are available only to those who purchase an All Access Pass.

Marine debris is a growing issue for companies throughout the supply chain, as they grapple with their role in this challenge and how they can pivot operations to have a positive impact. Collaboration is key in developing creative, impactful solutions. Hear from leaders at Dow, Ocean Conservancy and Circulate Capital why collaborations across industries, governments and value chains are necessary to define and drive effective outcomes, and how companies can join these efforts.

Measuring progress in the circular economy is far from a linear process. As competing and often conflicting metrics and frameworks pop up across industry sectors, there is a clear need to align definitions at the product, company and supply chain levels. During this interactive session, attendees will learn about the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s framework to measure circularity; hear from companies employing this methodology; and have the opportunity to provide input on this model.

Today we live in a crisis of single use products and packaging, all due to the tremendous virtues of disposability: affordable convenience.  Enter Loop, a new global platform that is disrupting disposability, while beating it at its own game.

It is estimated that there are already over 5 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean, with 8 million tons of plastic entering the ocean each year. Hear from experts on the role companies can play in combatting this trend, and how to be part of the solution.

Learn first-hand how the City of Phoenix, named a Cities4ZeroWaste honoree in 2017 by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ C40 Cities program, is driving innovation and economic development through diversion of plastics waste. Phoenix has set a goal to be zero waste by 2050.

Join this session to explore how large companies can and should be working together on pre-competitive partnerships so as to cultivate and scale groundbreaking innovations, evolve packaging supply chains to be more sustainable and change complex systems with many levers. Using the NextGen Cup Challenge as a case study, we will explore and debate insights from embracing this novel, exciting pre-competitive approach and how it can apply to other material and supply chain changes.

Plastic waste in our environment is an urgent issue with major, adverse impacts to wildlife, the health of ecosystems and livelihoods. But solving this crisis means going beyond one-off solutions and, instead, fixing a system that is fundamentally broken. No Plastic in Nature, a recently released report from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), shines new light into the critical role that business plays in driving systemic change forward.

This session will highlight key report findings, and offer practical, actionable insights for companies seeking to address the plastic waste problem in meaningful and effective ways.

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 in scale, impact and implementation — sometimes swapping one problem for another. Learn about how to effectively tackle food waste at scale, navigate conflicting priorities and generating new economic value in the process.